No. 23 seed Naomi Osaka advanced to a Grand Slam quarterfinal for the first time since 2021 by routing No. 3 Coco Gauff 6-3, 6-2 in the U.S. Open round of 16 on Monday in New York.
Osaka won 15 of her 16 first-serve points (93.8 percent) and needed just 64 minutes to finish off her dismantling of Gauff, the 2023 winner at the Billie Jean King Center.
“I was super locked-in,” Osaka said in her on-court interview. “I felt like everyone wanted to watch a really great match and I hope that’s what you got.”
Osaka, 27, will next face No. 11 Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic. Muchova was a 6-3, 6-7 (0), 6-3 winner over No. 27 Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine.
It was no contest from the outset as Osaka reached the quarterfinals at a major for the fifth time in her career. She won each of the other four – twice at the Australian Open (2019, 2021) and twice at the U.S. Open (2018, 2020).
Osaka zipped through the first two games to start off a strong opening set.
Gauff, 21, evened the second set at 2-2 before Osaka turned it up a notch and sailed to the finish.
“This is my favorite court in the world and it means so much to be back here,” Osaka said before praising Gauff. “I look up to her. The way she conducts herself is really special. To be such an amazing role model at such a young age, it’s a gift. I have all the respect in the world for her.”
Gauff had a rough day with 33 unforced errors and five double faults against just eight winners. Both players had three aces.
“I made way too many mistakes and way too many errors,” Gauff said in her post-match press conference.
Gauff has now been eliminated in the round of 16 in back-to-back years since her epic 2023 title win over Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus.
“It’s disappointing for sure, it was not the level I wanted to bring …,” Gauff said of her exit. “(Osaka) forced me to earn every point out there today.”
Muchova reached the U.S. Open semifinals in each of the past two years. Muchova and Osaka have split four career meetings, the last two of which have been at Grand Slams.
–Field Level Media
