Naomi Osaka advances to the US Open semifinals
Tennis player Naomi Osaka continues her outstanding participation in the US Open, after defeating Karolina Muchova, number 11 in the ranking, with partials of 6-4 and 7-6 (3) on Wednesday night. With this victory, Osaka returns to the semifinals in Flushing Meadows for the first time since she won the title five years ago.
The player, seeded number 23, maintains an impeccable record of 5-0 in the quarterfinals of major tournaments, all played on hard court. This positive streak reinforces Osaka’s trend, who has won the title every time she has reached the semifinals in the last eight Grand Slams.Her previous titles include the US Open in 2018 and 2020, as well as the Australian Open in 2019 and 2021. The most recent triumph at Melbourne Park was the last time Osaka reached the fourth round in a Grand Slam tournament, before this US Open. Osaka, who is competing as a seeded player in a major tournament for the first time since the birth of her daughter, Shai, in July 2023, has shown her best level since her return to the circuit after a 17-month maternity break. Previously, she defeated Coco Gauff, the third seed, with a score of 6-3 and 6-2 in the round of 16, and has only conceded one set in the entire tournament. Osaka’s victory over Muchova represents her sixth consecutive win against a WTA top 20 opponent, equaling the longest streak of her career, achieved between 2019 and 2020. Muchova, runner-up at the French Open in 2023 and a semifinalist in New York in the previous two years, played 145 games in this tournament, the most for a woman in the first five matches of a US Open in the Open era. She had needed three sets in each of the first four rounds. Osaka, 27, will face American Amanda Anisimova, number 8, in the next round, who previously defeated Iga Swiatek, number 2, less than two months after losing to the six-time Grand Slam champion in the Wimbledon final.“It means a lot. Actually, I’m surprised I’m not crying,” Osaka stated in her on-court interview. “There’s been a lot of hard work that you guys haven’t seen, I’m grateful to my team and happy to be healthy.”
Naomi Osaka
