HEBRON, Ky. —

"I'm going to the bowl game!" exclaimed Kevin Tatum at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport on Thursday.

"I got two boys at home, the grandparents are watching them. So go UC! Hopefully, my boys will cheer for them on Friday. And all I'm doing is waiting for my wife, so we can go through to the game," Tatum said.

"We have high hopes," said Monica Wenstrup, wife of Congressman Brad Wenstrup, who we saw at the airport on their way to the game.

Brad Wenstrup has been a long-time UC fan.

"I've been a season ticket holder since the late 80s," said Brad Wenstrup.

For him and his wife, Monica, it's been a thrilling season.

"We knew every game had to be won. So you just stayed on the edge of your seat all season long," said Brad Wenstrup.

Friday's bowl game is no different.

"We're the underdog. That's not a bad position to be in. We've got high hopes because this team has outperformed every time they've had to," Brad Wenstrup said.

Tatum said he and his wife, Molly, knew they'd be packing their bags once the game was announced.

"I was immediately searching for tickets, searching for flights. And I cannot wait," Tatum said. "I'm a huge UC fan. My wife graduated from there. I'm married into the UC family and I cannot be more excited for the team and the community."

UC students Ryan Sawyer and Claudia Wright said they're ecstatic Cincinnati's being put on a pedestal.

"Cincinnati, Ohio. No one thinks of Ohio whenever they think of football. So I think this is going to be cool especially with Ohio State and stuff. It's awesome that Cincinnati is getting some recognition," Wright said.

As for game predictions?

"UC by four," Tatum said.

"UC's gonna win. I think so," Wright said.

"UC's gonna win. What kind of question is that?! Come on!" Sawyer said.

And, of course, the politically correct prediction: "We got a great team with a lot of talents. And obviously Alabama does too. So I don't want to make any predictions," said Brad Wenstrup.

I guess we will all have to watch and see.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Naomi Osaka has stopped Serena Williams’ latest bid for a record-tying 24th Grand Slam singles title in the Australian Open semifinals.

Osaka reached her fourth major final by beating Williams 6-3, 6-4 to stretch her winning streak to 20 matches.

Williams grabbed the first two games before Osaka took control with a five-game run.

Osaka broke Williams to begin the second set and was on her way.

Williams’ forehand was off the mark all match and she finished with totals of 24 unforced errors and just 12 winners.

Williams won her 23rd major championship at Melbourne Park in 2017 but remained one behind Margaret Court’s mark for the most in history.

Spectators are allowed back at Melbourne Park on Thursday (Wednesday night EST) after being banned for five days during a local COVID-19 lockdown.

The 39-year-old Williams already owns 23 major singles trophies, one away from Margaret Court’s record for the most in tennis history.

Williams’ most recent Grand Slam title came at the 2017 Australian Open, while she was pregnant. Since returning to competition after her daughter was born, Williams has reached four major finals and lost each.

One of those defeats came against Osaka at the 2018 U.S. Open. The 23-year-old Osaka also won last year’s U.S. Open and the 2019 Australian Open.

The other women’s semifinal is No. 22 Jennifer Brady of the United States against No. 25 Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic.

One men’s semifinal is on the schedule: No. 1 Novak Djokovic vs. Aslan Karatsev, a qualifier from Russia who is ranked 114th and playing in his first Grand Slam tournament.

Djokovic is seeking a ninth Australian Open title and 18th Grand Slam trophy overall.

Rafael Nadal — who lost in the quarterfinals to Stefanos Tsitsipas — and Roger Federer are tied for the men’s record of 20.

Related video above: Five iconic Wimbledon moments of the last decade

There will be no Golden Slam for Novak Djokovic.

The top-ranked Serb lost to Alexander Zverev of Germany 1-6, 3-6, 6-1 Friday in the semifinals of the tennis tournament at the Tokyo Olympics.

Djokovic was attempting to become the first man to win all four Grand Slam tournaments and Olympic gold in the same year. He won the Australian Open, the French Open and Wimbledon this year and needed the Olympic and U.S. Open titles to complete the collection.

Steffi Graf in 1988 remains the only tennis player to achieve the Golden Slam.

"He won 20 Grand Slams," Zverev said. "So you can’t have everything."

Zverev’s opponent in the gold-medal match will be Karen Khachanov. The Russian beat Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain 6-3, 6-3.

Djokovic, who hadn’t lost since getting beaten by Rafael Nadal at the Italian Open final 2½ months ago, will play Carreno Busta for bronze.

On a humid and muggy evening at the Ariake Tennis Park, Djokovic committed a series of uncharacteristic errors after a strong start as the 6-foot-6 Zverev started to win free points with his big serve.

When Zverev hit a backhand winner down the line that Djokovic didn’t move for to close it out, Djokovic walked to the net where he was embraced by Zverev. Djokovic responded by resting his head on Zverev’s shoulder as the pair exchanged some words.

"I told him that he’s the greatest of all time," Zverev said. "I know that he was chasing history, he was chasing (the) Golden Slam. ... We’re very close. ... So of course I’m happy that I’ve won, but in the end of the day I also know (how) he feels."

Djokovic’s only Olympic medal was bronze in singles at the 2008 Beijing Games — his first. He could still win a gold at the Tokyo Games in mixed doubles.

Djokovic was due back on the court almost immediately to play with Serbian partner Nina Stojanovic in the mixed doubles semifinals against the Russian duo of Elena Vesnina and Aslan Karatsev.

It's the third consecutive day that Djokovic was playing two matches.

Viktor Troicki, Serbia's Olympic team coach, told The Associated Press on Thursday that the entire team was against Djokovic playing mixed doubles because they didn't want the event to tire him out with so much on the line in singles.

Without Djokovic, the gold-medal match will be lacking star power.

Zverev's best career result was reaching the final of last year's U.S. Open, while the 25th-ranked Khachanov is coming off a quarterfinal appearance at Wimbledon and is now in the biggest final of his career.

Later, there’s an all-Croatian gold-medal match in men’s doubles featuring the top-seeded pair of Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic against Marin Cilic and Ivan Dodig.

The first medal of the tennis competition went to the New Zealand team of Marcus Daniell and Michael Venus, who took bronze in men’s doubles by beating Austin Krajicek and Tennys Sandgren of the United States 7-6 (3), 6-2.

Daniell and Venus became the first New Zealand players to win a medal in tennis since 1912, when Anthony Wilding took bronze in singles while representing Australasia. Wilding, New Zealand’s only Grand Slam singles champion with six titles, was killed during World War I in 1915 at the age of 31.