Joy Ride: Osaka Overwhelms Gauff to Power Into US Open Quarterfinals

By Richard Pagliaro | Monday, September 1, 2025
Photo credit: Ishikia Samant/Getty

NEW YORK—Bouncing on her toes behind the baseline, Naomi Osaka exuded eager energy from the start.

A masterful Osaka turned blockbuster rematch into mismatch.

Breaking in the first game, Osaka was a fierce front-runner crushing an unstable Coco Gauff 6-3, 6-2 to power into her first US Open quarterfinal since her 2020 championship run.

The good news for Osaka: This is her first Grand Slam quarterfinal since becoming a mom. 

The better news: In each of the prior four times Osaka has reached a Grand Slam quarterfinal, she’s gone on to capture the championship. 

Over the past decade, the 2018 and 2020 Flushing Meadows champion Osaka remains the only woman to win two US Open titles in that span. Now, she’s two wins away from playing for a third US Open crown.

“I’m a little sensitive. I don’t want to cry,” Osaka told ESPN’s Mary Joe Fernandez afterward. “Honestly I just had so much fun out here. I was in the stands like two months after I gave birth to my daughter watching Coco [win the 2023 US Open]. 

“I really wanted an opportunity to come out and play. This is my favorite court in the world and it mean so much to me to be back here. I want to say a really big thank you to my team. It hasn’t always been easy but they’ve been by my side thank you guys.”

Six years ago, Osaka schooled a 15-year-old Gauff 6-3, 6-0 in the 2019 US Open third round.

In today’s rematch of US Open champions, a sharp Osaka shredded a sloppy Gauff, who conceded she felt “a little bit empty” on court today.

“Naomi played well. Today was, like, disappointing, because I felt it was the best I served all
tournament. A lot of aces,” said Gauff, who matched Osaka with three aces. “Yeah, there were some
doubles, but I thought, like, that was a good performance from me serving.

“Off the ground I think I just made way too many mistakes, way too many errors, which I feel like that’s the part of my game that I felt the most confident in coming into the tournament. So it was kind of a weird match, like, feeling confident in different areas swapping.

“Yeah, I mean, it’s disappointing. For sure it was not the level that I wanted to bring, but it is a step in the right direction I feel, and I think emotionally how much this week was, I think today I just stepped in, and I maybe was a little bit empty. She forced me to earn every point out there today.”

The 23rd-seeded Osaka served only 42 percent, but dropped just six points on serve and did not face a break point. Osaka won 15 of 16 first-serve points and punished Gauff’s wayward forehand wing in a 64-minute thrashing.

“It’s definitely really special,” Osaka said. “Honestly, I look up to her a lot. I think the way she conducts herself is really special.

“To be such an amazing role model at such a young age is a gift and a talent she has and I have all the respect in the world for her.”

The subtext to this story is both Grand Slam champions made major coaching changes last month. Osaka parted with Patrick Mouratoglou and hired ex-Iga Swiatek coach Tomasz Wiktorowski, who arrived in Montreal and guided the Japanese superstar to the Canadian Open final.

Across the net, Gauff was trying to implement the stroke technique changes new coach Gavin MacMillan, whom she hired four days before the UOpen began, has been making to her serve and western-grip forehand. 

Today, Osaka was relaxed and clear, while Gauff looked tight and confused. Though Gauff served 66 percent and committed five double faults, the rest of her game disintegrated in the face of Osaka’s firepower. 

Time after time, Gauff flat-lined shots into the net and by the end of this fourth-rounder even her vaunted backhand, arguably the best in the game, was expiring in net. 

Reigning Roland Garros champion Gauff won the toss, elected to serve and promptly paid the price for that decision. 

A jittery Gauff couldn’t find the range on her forehand, flattening that stroke into net to give Osaka the opening break.

Commanding the crosscourt forehand exchanges, Osaka hit cleaner and with more conviction, repeatedly draining forehand errors from the American.

Ballooning her third double fault beyond the service line, Gauff dropped serve to end a sloppy first set from her end in 31 minutes.

Controlling the center of the court, Osaka opened and closed the set with breaks. In between, she outclassed Gauff tormenting the 2023 champion’s weaker forehand wing.

Osaka won 20 of 24 serve points in the opener, including stamping two love holds.

During her run to the Montreal final last month, Osaka said her biggest game improvement was her movement coming out of the corners of the court.

The four-time major champion showed that today when Gauff tried to stretch her in toe-to-toe rallies. Striking beautifully on the run, Osaka elicited a netted reply capping her third love hold for 2-1 with a loud “Come on!”

Six games into the set, the wheels came off Gauff’s game completely. A forehand miscue and double fault put Gauff in a double-break point bind. 

Then a skittish Gauff netted her two-hander gifting Osaka the break and a 4-2 lead.

From 2-all, Osaka tore through 12 of 15 points extending to 5-2.

Arthur Ashe Stadium fans tried to rouse Gauff, who built a 40-15 lead in the eighth game. 

A vacant Gauff slapped three shots in a row into net ending a one-sided match in 64 minutes.

“I think for me I felt so discombobulated on the court, because it’s, like, I’m serving well, but not returning well,” Gauff said. “The last two years everybody can agree that’s like a weird
thought. Yeah, I am excited because I know that part of my game I feel like off the ground I wasn’t just doing well at all. Today I’m excited because I’m, like, okay, if I can serve well and also return well enough, then it’s going to be pretty good for me.

“Yeah, I think there’s a lot of positives to take from this tournament, and I’m trying to be positive in front of you guys. I promise you that, you know, I don’t feel that way right now, but I am not going to let this crush me.”

Osaka was ranked No. 88 at this time last year and if she goes on to capture a third US Open crown on Saturday, she will look back to one moment in Montreal that transformed her season.

The 2023 Montreal finalist Liudmila Samsonova held double match point at 6-4, 5-4, 40-15 when Osaka dug down and denied two match points sparking her stirring 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-3 comeback conquest of 13th-seeded Samsonova in round two of Montreal last month, 

Saving those match points, Osaka started putting productive points together rather than resorting to try to end points prematurely with one big strike.

Force to confront fight or flight in at that match, Osaka chose both options. She fought back and has been soaring since.

“I had played a match in Monreal where I had to save two match points ever since then I started thinking anything’s possible,” Osaka said today. “You just have to try your best and have a smile on your face.”

The 27-year-old Osaka will try to keep this joy ride rolling as she will face 11th-seeded Karolina Muchova for a semifinal spot.

On Grandstand, Muchova scored her fourth consecutive three-set win defeating 27th-seeded Marta Kostyuk, 6-3, 6-7(0), 6-3 for her third straight US Open quarterfinal.

Two-time US Open semifinalist has gone the distance defeating Venus Williams, Sorana Cirstea, Linda Noskova and Kostyuk in two hours, 53 minutes today. All four of Muchova’s victories have spanned at least two hours, while Osaka’s longest match was a three-set victory over Daria Kasatkina that lasted one hour, 44 minutes.