Clara Tauson has won the title, after Osaka took the first set 6-4.
Tauson is this year's ASB Classic women's singles champion, but she did so without winning a set in the final.
The win caps off a tumultuous week for Tauson, who didn't always have it her own way but dug deep to win the crucial points. She also dealt with a number of disruptions, including a semi-final that spanned two days. That match, against top seed Madison Keys, underlined Tauson's fighting ability and she carried that on into the final after finding herself down 5-1 at one stage.
Tauson started with a series of aces, however Osaka answered back with some thundering serves of her own. The serve and volley style made it feel like a men's match for a while, before Osaka started to pull away. She broke Tauson in the third and fifth games with some stylish forehand winners and seemed destined to close out the set in quick time.
Osaka sent down a powerful forehand winner to make 5-1, in a real statement of intent that Osaka wanted an early night. However, that seemed to fire up Tauson, who broke back with the set on the line. She pulled it back to 5-4, before Osaka found her service game once again to take the set.
Then the sold-out crowd was sent into confusion as the physio was called courtside.
Tauson needed a break to process the fact that she had just won, and admitted she had mixed emotions about lifting the trophy. It is her first WTA tournament win since 2021 - also the last time Osaka won as well.
It would have been nice for the tournament to have been a winning chapter in Osaka's potential story back to the top, but it's been a success having her on court all the way to the final.
However, Tauson spent even longer, especially in a quarter-final that stretched over two days and then a semi later on that day. She survived a match point in her second round match against Sofia Kenin, so really did it the hard way.
Both players head over to Melbourne for the Australian Open, starting in a week.
The men's singles of the ASB Classic starts tomorrow.
Osaka, a two-time winner of both the Australian and US Opens, was in her 12th career final, but her first for three years, after having time out of the game for the birth of her daughter in 2023.
More to come.
