Osaka takes winding path from Japan to U.S. Open final

FILE PHOTO: Sep 6, 2018; New York, NY, USA; Naomi Osaka of Japan celebrates match point against Madison Keys of the United States in a women's semi-final match on day eleven of the 2018 U.S. Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Mandatory Credit: Danielle Parhizkaran-USA TODAY SPORTS

NEW YORK (Reuters) - As Naomi Osaka sprinted through her matches at the U.S. Open this year, pushing aside anyone who stood in her way, it would have been easy to mistake the young Japanese phenom's success as predestined.

But the road from her home country to New York, then Florida and finally, a U.S. Open final against Serena Williams, has been a circuitous one, marked by incremental improvements both physically and mentally.