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Coco Gauff, of the United States, reacts during a match against Naomi Osaka, of Japan, during the fourth round of the US Open tennis championships, Monday, Sept. 1, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
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Coco Gauff, of the United States, reacts during a match against Naomi Osaka, of Japan, during the fourth round of the US Open tennis championships, Monday, Sept. 1, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
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By HOWARD FENDRICH | AP Tennis Writer
NEW YORK — Naomi Osaka smiled before her U.S. Open showdown against Coco Gauff began on Monday – and after it ended. Between points, Osaka patted her left thigh and quietly told herself, almost in a whisper: “Come on. Come on.”
Once the ball was in play, Osaka’s strokes were loud and on-target, producing the sort of confident, consistent and power-swinging tennis that carried her to four Grand Slam titles and the No. 1 ranking.
In the biggest statement yet that she is back at the height of her game, and again a serious contender for the sport’s highest honors, Osaka eliminated Gauff, 6-3, 6-2, in Arthur Ashe Stadium to reach her first major quarterfinal in more than 4½ years.
“This is kind of unchartered territory at this point of my career,” said Osaka, a 27-year-old who was born in Japan and moved to the U.S. with her family at age 3. “I’m just enjoying it. I’m having fun. I’m being able to play against the best players in the world.”
The No. 23-seeded Osaka was better throughout than third-seeded Gauff, whose repeated mistakes during a tournament that’s been a near-constant struggle for her really made the difference. And Gauff’s body language was quite a contrast to Osaka’s. Gauff repeatedly would put her palms up or cover her face with a hand or gesture toward her team in the stands, looking confused or upset.
Still, Gauff vowed afterward: “I am not going to let this crush me.”
On Wednesday, Osaka will face No. 11 Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic for a berth in the semifinals. Muchova, the 2023 French Open runner-up and a semifinalist in New York the past two years, advanced with a 6-3, 6-7 (0), 6-3 victory No. 27 Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine.
It was Muchova who got past 45-year-old Venus Williams in three sets in the first round of this U.S. Open. Muchova also beat Osaka in the second round at Flushing Meadows in 2024.
Against Gauff, Osaka displayed the demeanor – and, importantly, the booming serve and other strokes – that carried her to hard-court Slam championships at the U.S. Open in 2018 and 2020, and at the Australian Open in 2019 and 2021.
It was at the French Open later in 2021 that Osaka helped spark a global conversation about mental health by revealing she felt anxiety and depression. She then took a series of breaks from the tour.
That most recent trophy at Melbourne Park was the last time Osaka had even made it as far as the fourth round at any major until this match against Gauff, a 21-year-old from Florida who owns two major trophies. The first came at Flushing Meadows in 2023 and the second at the French Open this June.
Osaka returned to the tour last season after a 17-month maternity leave. Her child, Shai, was born in July 2023.
“I’m a little sensitive, and I don’t want to cry, but, honestly, I just had so much fun out here,” said Osaka, who first played Gauff back at the 2019 U.S. Open, also in Ashe, and won that one, too.
“I was in the stands like two months after I gave birth to my daughter, watching Coco. I just really wanted an opportunity to come out here and play,” Osaka told the crowd. “This is my favorite court in the world, and it means so much for me to be back here.”
Gauff came out jittery at the start. Her problematic serve was fine; other strokes were the problem. She finished with 33 unforced errors – way more than Osaka’s 12.
Plus, Osaka’s serving and returning were terrific. She won 32 of the 38 points she served – 15 of 16 when first serves landed in – and never faced a single break point. She also converted all four break chances she earned.
“She forced me to earn every point out there today,” Gauff acknowledged.
A key: Osaka used her forehand, her best stroke, to go after Gauff’s forehand, her worst.
By the end of the first set, Gauff had made 16 unforced errors and Osaka only five. By the end of the match, 20 of Gauff’s unforced errors were off the forehand side.
“After the match, I was really disappointed. Kind of broke down to my team,” Gauff said. “Then, hearing their perspectives and everything, it definitely is a lot of positive things.”
Iga Swiatek rallied from down 3-1 in the first set to beat Ekaterina Alexandrova, 6-3, 6-1.
“At the beginning, I felt like she was playing really fast,” said Swiatek, who is seeking her second U.S. Open title and seventh in a Grand Slam. “I wanted to find my rhythm, but later on I really felt like I was in my bubble and in my zone.”
Up next for Swiatek is either American Amanda Anisimova or Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil.
“The girls play late, so there’s no point now for me to overthink who I’m going to play,” Swiatek said. “I’m just going to see who wins, and that’s it. I’ll prepare.”
Sinner routs Bublik to reach quarterfinals
Jannik Sinner dominated the only player other than Carlos Alcaraz who has defeated him this season, routing Alexander Bublik, 6-1, 6-1, 6-1, on Monday night to return to the quarterfinals.
The top-seeded Sinner’s victory took just 1 hour, 21 minutes, the second-shortest completed match in the tournament. A first-round victory for Tomas Machac was a minute shorter.
Sinner lost to Bublik in June in Halle, Germany, in a warm-up tournament before Wimbledon, but that was played on a grass court. Trying to beat the defending U.S. Open champion on a hard court is an entirely different story – and almost impossible these days.
Sinner has won 25 straight Grand Slam matches on that surface, including the last two Australian Open titles, along with his first U.S. Open trophy last year.
He will face fellow Italian Lorenzo Musetti, the No. 10 seed, on Wednesday. The other quarterfinal that day will pit No. 8 Alex de Minaur against No. 25 Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Bublik, the No. 23 seed from Kazakhstan, had been one of the hottest players in tennis, with an ATP Tour-leading 11 straight victories and three titles, which is tied for the second-best this year behind Alcaraz’s six.
He had won all 55 service games coming into this match, yet Sinner broke him eight times.
Bublik could only smile at times, including after the match, when he appeared to tell Sinner that he’s not that bad of a player.
Sinner improved to 35-4 this year. Alcaraz beat him in the French Open final and also in Rome and Cincinnati – where Sinner was ill and had to stop playing in the first set.
Auger-Aliassime advanced by defeating Andrey Rublev, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4, in a match that took just over two hours.
Auger-Aliassime won for just the second time in nine career matches against Rublev, the No. 15 seed who slammed his racket after losing a point in the second set.
“As I won the first set, I felt like I was in control of the match,” said Auger-Aliassime, who at age 25 is in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament for the fourth time. “Good win considering our head-to-head, considering how good he is as a player.”
De Minaur of Australia and Musetti also won in straight sets.
Venus Williams reaches doubles quarterfinals
Venus Williams is into the U.S. Open women’s doubles quarterfinals with Leylah Fernandez and now wants her old partner to come back. She says it’s time for Serena Williams to come see a match.
Williams made the plea for her younger sister to show up after she and Fernandez beat the 12th-seeded duo of Ekaterina Alexandrova and Zhang Shuai, 6-3, 6-4, in their third-round match Monday in front of a capacity crowd at Louis Armstrong Stadium.
“She’s so happy for Leylah and I, and she’s given us advice,” Williams said. “We just need her in the box. So, my message is, ‘Serena, you need to show up.’”
The Williams sisters won 14 major championships together. Even if Serena chooses not to attend, she’s definitely watching.
“She gave me a pep talk and made sure to call me today. I was, like, ‘You’re right. I got it. I got it,’” Venus said.
“She’s definitely coaching from afar. She’s so excited. She gets so nervous watching, and she’s got the kids watching. They’re all at home, just really on our side.”
Venus said she was sent a video of her two nieces watching the match and yelling her name.
Williams and Fernandez had not played together until last week, when they received a wild-card entry into the field at the Grand Slam tournament. They are now 3-0 and have not lost a set in the process.
“We’re on the same wavelength, and hopefully we can keep it going,” Williams said.
With the stands packed at Armstrong and a wait to get in to see Williams and Fernandez, the 45-year-old American and 22-year-old Canadian needed just an hour and 14 minutes to move on.
“I have full confidence in Venus, and I hope she has full confidence in me during our match,” Fernandez said. “We’re just going out there, playing our game: Be offensive, aggressive and ready for the ball.”
Venus has called Fernandez her best partner other than Serena. She joked that Serena didn’t have any advice for Fernandez, the 2021 U.S. Open runner-up in singles.
“So I guess you’re playing perfect,” Williams said to her partner during their press conference.
Serena hasn’t played since the 2022 U.S. Open. If she does return to Flushing Meadows, it sounds as if Venus would expect her to bring a racket.
“If she came, it would be a dream for both of us and we’d have her on the court coaching,” Venus said. “We’d force her to hit, even though she doesn’t hit often. It’s probably best she doesn’t come because we’d probably bully her.”
Who plays Tuesday?
Second-ranked Carlos Alcaraz faces Jiri Lehecka in one men’s quarterfinal. It’s American Taylor Fritz against four-time U.S. Open champion Novak Djokovic in the other, with the winners meeting in the semifinals on Friday. In the women’s quarterfinals, Jessica Pegula plays Barbora Krejcikova, and top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka goes up against Marketa Vondrousova.
AP sports writers Stephen Whyno and Brian Mahoney contributed to this story.
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