Gauff vs. Osaka: Clash of former champions in US Open 4th round

Coco Gauff and Naomi Osaka to face off in a high-stakes match at the US Open

The fourth round of the US Open promises strong emotions with the stellar match between Coco Gauff and Naomi Osaka, two champions who will seek to advance in the tournament. Venus Williams anticipates an unmissable encounter, highlighting the importance of this duel for tennis. Gauff, seeded number 3, demonstrated her strength by defeating Magdalena Frech with a score of 6-3, 6-1, securing her place in the second week of the tournament for the fourth consecutive year. This victory marks her sixteenth appearance in the round of 16 in a major tournament, solidifying her position among the American tennis players with the most participations before turning 22. For her part, Osaka advanced to the fourth round for the first time in a Grand Slam since the 2021 Australian Open, after defeating Daria Kasatkina with scores of 6-0, 4-6, 6-3.

It’s been a long road, but I’m happy to be here now.

Naomi Osaka

The match between Gauff and Osaka is a rematch of their 2019 encounter, when Gauff, at 15 years old, was debuting in the main draw of the US Open and Osaka was the defending champion. Osaka won that match in straight sets, but consoled an emotional Gauff at the end of the match. Gauff has won three of the four matches she has played against Osaka since that memorable encounter. Gauff has been working on improving her serve, including with the help of a biomechanics expert, Gavin MacMillan. In her match against Frech, Gauff achieved 76% first serves, reaching a maximum speed of 113 mph.

It’s been an emotional week, but I think I needed those difficult moments to move forward. I’m trying to enjoy and not focus so much on the results, but on the process, and I think today I showed that I was really having fun.

Coco Gauff

In other notable results from the women’s day, Karolina Muchova defeated Linda Noskova, while Marta Kostyuk and Ekaterina Alexandrova also advanced to the fourth round. Iga Swiatek and Amanda Anisimova complete the list of the tennis players still in competition.