NEW YORK -- Everyone got robbed. The players, the crowd, the fans watching at home.

The Serena Williams-Naomi Osaka US Open final was supposed to be a heavyweight boxing match between two of the hardest-striking players in the game. For both women, history was at stake. On the line for Williams was a 24th Grand Slam title and her first since becoming a mom. Twenty-year-old Osaka, the first Japanese woman to make the final of a major, was attempting to win her first Slam -- against the woman who inspired her to play the game.

One by one, the women were announced onto the court beneath swirling lights and smoke machines and amid deafening cheers, the crowd joyful at the sight of Williams in another Grand Slam final and respectful toward the budding young star. And for one set of tennis, the show lived up to its billing.

Then, early in the second set, it all unraveled.

In the second game, with Osaka up a set and serving at 0-1, 40-15, chair umpire Carlos Ramos handed Williams a warning for a coaching violation when he witnessed her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, gesture to her from her player's box. In the moment, Williams denied receiving coaching -- she did the same later at her news conference -- and argued with Ramos. Two points later, she lost the game. For a moment, the interaction seemed to spark Williams to life. She held serve and then broke Osaka to take a 3-1 lead. The crowd reacted with the loudest cheers of the night, and a standing ovation for their queen.

Then, during the changeover at 3-2, the fireworks began. After Osaka broke her in the fifth game, Williams smashed her racket and was penalized a point for a second code violation. Before the start of the next game, Williams walked to the chair to plead with Ramos again to tell the crowd she was not cheating.

"I didn't get coaching. You need to make an announcement that I didn't get coaching," Williams said. "I didn't cheat. How can you say that? I have never cheated in my life. I have a daughter and I stand for what's right for her. You owe me an apology."

There should have been only tears of happiness for Naomi Osaka after winning the US Open. AP Photo/Julio Cortez

At that moment, the boos -- which had started after the initial warning -- became so deafening they delayed play. On every serve. After a few points, Ramos stopped his attempts to settle the crowd. Through it all, Osaka impressively held her focus and won the next two games. At 4-3, she was two games from the title.

But Williams couldn't let that earlier warning go. Again, she walked to the chair and exchanged words with Ramos. "You stole a point from me," she said. "You're a thief." Before fans knew what was happening, Ramos called both players to the chair and docked Williams a game penalty for verbal abuse: 5-3 Osaka.

Had Williams let it go -- or had Ramos let the match play out -- maybe Williams could have forced a third set. The way Osaka was playing, it's unlikely, but Williams is a 23-time Grand Slam champ for a reason. She knows how to find that next gear. "It's hard to say, because I always fight 'til the end and I always try to come back, no matter what," Williams said after the match. "But she was also playing really, really well. She played an amazing match. She deserved credit, she deserved to win. At the end of the day, that's what it was."