(September 1, 2025) FLUSHING, NY –In a match which featured a pair of former US Open champions, No. 23 and four-time major winner Naomi Osaka defeated No. 3 seed Coco Gauff 6-3, 6-2 in 64 minutes to reach the quarterfinals of the US Open.
“I think I played well,” Osaka said to media. “Honestly, besides playing well, I think I played smart. I feel like Tomasz gave me a game plan, and I executed it pretty well. All credit to him. Yeah, it was just very clear for me what I had to do from the beginning. If I stepped outside of those lines, it was very easy to go back in them.
“Yeah, I mean, I think for me every match is very different, and obviously the more matches you play at a slam especially, you kind of just learn more and you feel more comfortable. For me today, I don’t know, I definitely feel like I played better than the last match I played, but it’s going to be interesting to see what happens the more matches I get under my belt.
“Yeah, I think for me, you know, I know Coco is probably the fastest, if not one of the fastest, players on tour. I also think that says a lot for me to be completely fine with playing long rallies with her and just knowing that I’m okay not going for anything until I get my, like, perfect opportunity. So, honestly, that was a part of my plan was just not to, like, freak out when she gets a lot of balls back and just keep building the point.”
Gauff talked about her regrets about her loss today: “Naomi played well. Today was, like, disappointing, because I felt it was the best I served all tournament. A lot of 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.”
Gauff talked about what she learned during her loss: “I think that trying to be more positive. After the match I was really disappointed. Kind of broke down to my team. Then hearing their perspectives and everything, it definitely is a lot of positive things. I think if I kept the way I was going in Cincinnati to here, I would have been out the first round. So I think where my serve started from the start of the tournament to today was a big improvement.
“I feel like now I just have to get everything to work together. But, yeah, I knew going in it was going to be a tough tournament for me. Did I feel like I had a lot of confidence after my last match? Yeah, definitely. I think that was a big confidence booster. So today feels more disappointing I think than maybe it would have felt losing in the first or second round.”
This is he Japatnese woman’s fifth trip to a major tournament quarterfinal. So far in Osaka’s career, each time she has reached the quarterfinals of a major, she has gone on to win it.
The 27 year-old Osaka broke serve to open the match in Arthur Ashe Stadium, and she broke serve to end the first set on a Gauff double fault for 6-3. Gauff had 16 unforced errors in the first set.
In the second set, Osaka notched the first break of the second set for a 4-2 lead and went on to win the next two games to close the match.
Gauff had 33 unforced errors to Osaka’s 12. Osaka hit 10 winners to Gauff’s 8. Osaka broke the American’s serve four times during the match. Osaka hit three aces to Gauff’s three, but Gauff hit five double faults.
Osaka talked about what has given her her newfound confidence, which began at the Montreal 1000 tournament.
“I actually felt really good against Svitolina when I played her. I think for me that match kind of made things clear that I can, like, rally a lot with everybody.”
“No, honestly, I think, like, for me the main what I want to take away from this tournament is just smiling and having fun. I know in my first round I was too nervous to smile, and my match against Kasatkina was just really not smiley at all.
“”Going into this match, I just wanted to be grateful. Yeah, I mean, she’s one of the best players in the world. For me, honestly, I have the most fun when I play against the best players. I love when they hit amazing shots or they hit aces, because you know, that’s how they won the tournaments that they won.
“I always see it as a challenge. Yeah, I like challenges.”
The French Open champion talked about how Osaka beat her:
“Obviously she was serving well on the first serve, but I felt like today I was making way too many errors on the serve, especially second serve.
“I think on that first set I don’t think her first serve percentage was even that high, and I wasn’t really getting into the rallies at all, which is, like you said, a strong suit in my game.
“I think for me I felt so discombobulated on the court, because it’s, like, I’m serving well, but not returning well. 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.
“I look forward to the future and making more improvements. Yeah, hopefully next year I can grow a lot as a player and as a person.”
“Osaka talked about playing her next opponent Karolina Muchova: “I mean, I can’t really speak too much on the second week of a major, because this is my first time back here. But you know, I feel really relaxed. I don’t feel stressed at all.
“I think for me I just wanted to have a better year than last year, and I already did that in Montreal. For me, whatever happens the rest of this tournament, the rest of Asia, I’m just trying to be a better tennis player and learn from every match that I play.
“But I know my match against Muchova is going to be really tough for me. She’s always been one of the most talented tennis players out there, and physically she moves really well, and she’s very strong. So it’s going to be a really tough challenge.”
More to follow…
