Six weeks in the past in Cincinnati, Naomi Osaka misplaced in the second spherical of qualifying. Afterward, she sat in the locker room “absolutely devastated,” when Taylor Townsend gave her a hug.
“I started sobbing,” Osaka stated, “and I think she really felt bad. I was thinking about that moment here. It’s funny how if you keep working, eventually you’ll get opportunities. I don’t think about last year now. I think about the future and what I’m capable of doing.”
This week in Beijing, she is translating that sense of risk with some critical flashes of her former greatness.
On Tuesday, she’ll play maybe her most significant match this yr — an intriguing Round of 16 assembly with No.4 seed Coco Gauff on the China Open. It’s the primary time in eight years two main champions have met in the fourth spherical at Beijing.
“She’s one of the best players in the world,” Osaka instructed reporters after defeating Katie Volynets 6-3, 6-2 on Monday. “I think it’s going to be a really cool test for me. I’m excited to play the match and I know people are excited to watch the match.”
Beijing: Scores | Order of Play | Draws
Clearly, Osaka relishes these high-profile matches.
Earlier this yr at Roland Garros, Osaka got here near staging an enormous upset of World No.1 Iga Swiatek. Playing on a red-clay floor that works against her finest attributes, Osaka took a 4-1 lead in the third set of their second-round match. Swiatek, a three-time French Open champion, saved a match level and got here again to win — on her strategy to a fourth title in Paris.
“Probably the most fun match that I have played so far,” Osaka instructed reporters later. “I was watching Iga win this tournament last year, and I was pregnant. It was just my dream to be able to play her. When I kind of think of it like that, I think I’m doing pretty well.”
Osaka has been doing fairly nicely in Beijing, too.
She’s received three consecutive matches for the primary time in greater than 4 months, when she reached the Round of 16 on the Italian Open. Her victims on the China Open: Lucia Bronzetti, No.21 seed Yulia Putintseva (in three units) and Volynets.
Osaka hasn’t received 4 straight matches since reaching the ultimate in Miami two-and-a-half years in the past. On the opposite hand, the win over Volynets was Osaka’s ninth straight win in Beijing, going again to her title right here in 2019.
Her 4 main titles all got here on arduous courts like Beijing’s, which amplify her already harmful serve. Osaka had 5 aces against Volynets and received 38 of her 50 service factors (76 p.c).
“She has a great serve, she’s very athletic, obviously,” Osaka stated of Gauff. “I think for me my strongest traits are being aggressive and also my serve. So it’s definitely going to be a battle of who wants to take control of the point first — and I think it’s going to be me.”
This is Osaka’s first match below coach Patrick Mouratoglou, finest identified for his longtime work with Serena Williams. It is, Osaka stated, a piece in progress. Against Putintseva, she was “a little bit confused,” however after the match the 2 sorted it out.
The head-to-head report between Gauff and Osaka is a useless warmth, at 2-all, however there’s an asterisk.
The first time they met, on the 2019 US Open, Gauff was solely 15 years outdated. The following yr, the 16-year-old Gauff received their match on the Australian Open. Osaka had a three-set win at Cincinnati in 2021 and Gauff prevailed at San Jose in 2022 — though she had but to grow to be a Top 10 participant and a significant champion.
Like Osaka, that is Gauff's first match with a brand new teaching setup. After splitting with Brad Gilbert, she has added Matt Daly to her two-man teaching crew.
Gauff’s two wins right here have been strikingly related — she defeated Clara Burel 7-5, 6-3 after which No.26 Katie Boulter 7-5, 6-2. She’s by to her seventh Round of 16 at a WTA 1000 match this yr and has already amassed 47 match-wins in these occasions.
The 20-year-old American transformed 4 of seven break-point alternatives against Boulter and has 100 break conversions at WTA 1000s this yr, second solely to Swiatek. She was a semifinalist on her debut right here final yr, and this yr comes in seeking to earn factors to nail down a third-straight qualification for the WTA Finals.
“Obviously Naomi, she’s a tough match no matter what form she’s in,” Gauff stated afterward. “I’ve played her a lot now … so we’ve only played each other on hard court, which is so strange.”
All issues thought-about, there’s extra at stake right here for Osaka. She’s at No.73 in the PIF WTA Rankings and, with the objective of being seeded at subsequent yr’s Australian Open, must be in the low 30s. Further progress in Beijing might put her again in the Top 50.
But first she has to cope with Gauff, a formidable foe, who identical to Osaka herself, is keen to grab the second.
