On Tuesday, Noami Osaka turned 21 and she can proudly look back at an incredible year of achievements. The world No. 4 has enjoyed a season of firsts, and she's not even done yet.

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Starting on Sunday, she'll make her debut at the WTA Finals in Singapore. To get there, she won her first career WTA title in Indian Wells, with victories over Maria Sharapova, Karolina Pliskova and Simona Halep, to name a few. She followed that with her first career win over her idol Serena Williams in the opening round of Miami.

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She then went through a slight dip during the clay season, before reaching the semifinals of Nottingham on grass. Still not quite finding her stride, she lost in the third round of Wimbledon before going 1-3 in her three North American hard-court events. So needless to say, Osaka was a relatively unassuming dark horse entering the US Open.

The Japanese native would drop just one set en route to her maiden Grand Slam, beating Williams once again in a controversial final that she still undoubtedly deserved to win.

She then went on her first media whirlwind tour, including an appearance on The Ellen Show, where she got called out for her celebrity crush on Michael B. Jordan. Ellen Degeneres got her an appropriate birthday gift:

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The stellar fortnight made her the youngest US Open champion since 2006 and launched her into the Top 10 for the first time. No dip followed this title run as Osaka reached the final in Tokyo in front of her home crowd before making the Beijing semifinals.

All along her rapid rise in 2018 from No. 68 to No. 4, Osaka has stayed true to herself and refreshingly open and honest in press. Asked about feeling the pressure to prove herself after her loss in Beijing, Osaka had this to say:

"I'm going to be kind of real with you. So I think humans are people, they're never happy. Like, if you don't win a tournament, then people will say, Oh, she hasn't won a tournament. If you haven't won a Slam, they'll say, she hasn't won a slam. Then if you win one Grand Slam, they're like, Oh, she only won one Grand Slam.

"I'm just, like, oh, I guess I have to do more, to be better. I mean, in a way I guess it's good for me because I think that way myself anyways. I think that's one of the things that makes me want to prove myself."

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She's proven herself plenty this year, but has more opportunities ahead. When action begins on Sunday, she'll be the first Japanese player to play the WTA Finals since Ai Sugiyama in 2003.

"But for Singapore, personally, I think I'm very excited," she said. "I think it's just one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities that I was able to have. I mean, I'm not there yet, but I'm going to have.

"So I think for me, it's just going to be really fun and exciting. I think that I play well when I have those feelings."

Osaka celebrates
21st birthday 
after year of firsts

Osaka celebrates 21st birthday after year of firsts

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