*Flushing, New York – Naomi Osaka and Coco Gauff faced each other for a spot in the US Open quarterfinals and H2H bragging rights. There is no bad blood between the two, even considering themselves “sisters,” but they both have a hunger to lift trophies. They went into this match with Gauff leading the series.
Gauff came into this year’s Open with a new coach, along with serve and forehand challenges, and Osaka with growing confidence. Coco has looked stressed the whole tournament and has stumbled in the first game of every round. She eventually finds her way, but a confident Naomi isn’t one to give her the grace or errors to recover. And as the kids say, “and didn’t!”
Naomi’s camp was well aware of Coco’s struggles, and the Japanese phenom immediately started executing the plan – peppering Coco’s forehand – to draw the errors. And like clockwork, Coco dropped the first game and ultimately the set, ending it with one of those pesky double-faults. A stress-free Naomi is a danger to all, and Coco quickly found that out the hard way.
The second set started with Osaka serving … and Coco giving her a big lead in the game due to more unforced forehands into the net. Coco eventually found a couple of shots to get in the game, but at 40-30, another forehand error into the net stopped her progress. 1-0, Osaka.
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Coco was able to stay longer in a few more rallies in the next two games, also holding her serve. But if she were going to level it and recover from dropping the first, she needed to lock in on her shots off both wings and work through her serving yips. Could she? Second set, 2-all, 49 minutes into the match.
Osaka is still playing free, fueled by winning 100% of the points off her first serve at this point. Gauff would need to put pressure on Osaka’s serves if she were gonna find a way to gain any momentum in the match. Down a set and serving from behind is an ominous position to be in against a confident former champion like Osaka. She has some serious muscle memory at the US Open. Coco just couldn’t find it.
Osaka, deceptively sitting at world no. 24, continued to press the world no. 3’s weaknesses and ultimately got the break at 4-2. And it was all down hill for Gauff, the ‘23 US Open champion, from there! 5-2 with Osaka serving for the match.
The story really all but ends there, as Gauff put up little resistance to stay in the match. She was defeated emotionally and her technical issues were center stage. So “game, set and match” was inevitable. She lost in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2 … on the same court where Osaka consoled Gauff the first time she played the youngster and won.
Stats-wise, Coco made 33 unforced errors to Osaka’s 12; won only 52% of points off her first serve to Osaka’s 94%; and she won only 59% of points off her second serve vs Osaka’s 77% … all impossible for Gauff to overcome.
“I’m trying to appear strong in front of you guys right now, but inside I really don’t feel that way. But I’m not gonna let this crush me and hopefully by next year I will have learned some things and will be a better player,” Gauff said of the decisive loss.
Their H2H is now even, 3 all, with Naomi leading on the biggest stages, in Grand Slams.
Look out world … here comes Naomi Osaka.
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