NEW YORK – Osaka’s Naomi eliminated Coco Gouf 6-3, 6-2 in 64 minutes at the US Open on Monday, reaching her first Grand Slam quarterfinals in over four and a half years.
Osaka will advance to her fifth major quarter final and will be her first step forward since giving birth to her daughter, Shay in July 2023. Every time Osaka played the majors quarter-final round, she won it.
“At this point in my career, this is kind of territory,” said Osaka, 27, born in Japan and moved to the US with her family at the age of three. “I enjoy it, I enjoy it.
No. 23 seed Osaka was better than No. 3 Gouf. In the tournament, repeated mistakes during the tournament, which were almost constant struggles for her, really made a difference.
Still, Gouf later swore: “I am not going to crush this on me.”
Osaka exhibited the attitude, big serves and booming strokes that brought her to four major championships on all hard courts. These titles were held at the US Open in 2018 and 2020 and at the Australia Open in 2019 and 2021.
At the French Open in late 2021, Osaka sparked a global conversation about mental health by revealing that she felt anxious and depressed. She then took a series of breaks from the tour.
The latest trophy at Melbourne Park was the last time that Osaka won it until the fourth round in any slam event, from a match against 21-year-old Gauff, who holds two major trophies. The first was Flushing Meadows in 2023, and the second was held at the French Open in June this year.
For Osaka, this marks her return to her best play as she rejoined the tour after 17 months of maternity leave.
“I’m a little sensitive and don’t want to cry, but honestly, I had so much fun here,” said Osaka, who first played Gauff in 2019 US Open at Arthur Ash Stadium.
“I was in the stands looking at this, like two months after giving birth to my daughter. I really wanted the opportunity to come out and play,” Osaka told the crowd. “This is my favorite courthouse in the world and it means I’m coming back here.”
Gouf has become unstable. Her problematic serve was fine. The other strokes were the problem. She ended with 33 forced errors – well beyond Osaka’s 12.
Furthermore, Osaka’s serving and returns were amazing. She scored 32 of the 38 points she served — 15 of 16 when the first service landed — and never faced a breakpoint. She also changed all four break chances she acquired.
“She forced me to score every point there today,” Goff admitted.
Osaka followed Goff’s forehand, the worst, using her forehand, her best stroke.
By the end of the first set, Gauff had 16 forced errors, and Osaka had only five. By the end of the match, 20 of Gauff’s unforced errors had been out of the forehand side.
“After the game, I was really disappointed. It broke down with the team,” Gauff said. “Then, hearing their perspective and everything, that’s definitely a lot of positive things.”
On Wednesday, Osaka will face No. 11th seed Karolina Mciba. Karolina Mciba will compete in the semi-finals, past 45-year-old Venus Williams in three sets in the first round of the US Open. Muchova, a runner-up in France’s Open in 2023 and a New York semi-finalist for the past two years, has made it to the quarter-finals with Ukraine’s 6-3, 6-7 (0), 6-3 Victory No. 27 Marta Kostyuk.
Muchova, 29, from the Czech Republic, won three setters in four consecutive rounds at the Flushing Meadows, joining Leslie Hunt (1978), Sylvia Hanika (1979) and Jerena Ostapenko (2023) and becoming the fourth woman in her opening days.
Muchiba defeated Osaka in the second round at the US Open last year.
“She has always been one of the most talented tennis players, physically she moves really well and she’s very strong,” Osaka said. “So that’s going to be a really difficult challenge.”
ESPN research and Associated Press contributed to this report.
