NEW YORK — Coco Gauff and Naomi Osaka set up a high-profile showdown between two past title winners in the U.S. Open’s fourth round with victories Saturday.
“Everyone will be watching,” Venus Williams said. “That’s what tennis needs.”
Their meeting on Monday, with a quarterfinal berth at stake, is a rematch from 2019, when Gauff was a 15-year-old making her main-draw debut at Flushing Meadows and Osaka was the reigning champion.
Osaka won that one in straight sets, then consoled a teary Gauff on the sideline and encouraged her to speak to an Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd that was pulling for the young American.
“I kind of see her as a little sister,” Osaka said Saturday, “so it’s kind of cool to be playing her here again.”
She advanced to her first fourth-round match at any major since the 2021 Australian Open by eliminating No. 15 seed Daria Kasatkina 6-0, 4-6, 6-3 at Louis Armstrong Stadium, after Gauff made it that far at the U.S. Open for the fourth consecutive year with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over No. 28 Magdalena Frech at Ashe.
“It’s been a really long journey,” Osaka said during her on-court interview, “but I’m glad to be here now.”
Osaka, who was born in Japan and moved with her family to the United States as a kid, joked to the Armstrong fans: “Can somebody come to the match and cheer for me? It’s kind of tough playing an American here, but I hope you guys adopted me, as well.”
So much has happened to both Osaka and Gauff since that headline-worthy encounter six years ago in New York.
The No. 3-seeded Gauff, 21, is now a two-time Grand Slam champ, including at the U.S. Open in 2023, and a real star.
No. 23 Osaka, 27, owns four major titles — including at the U.S. Open in 2018 and 2020 — and has been ranked No. 1. She was among the athletes at the forefront of conversations about mental health, opening up at the 2021 French Open about dealing with anxiety and depression, then taking a series of breaks from the tour.
“Naomi and I, we aren’t super close or anything, but we’re definitely friendly with each other,” Gauff said. “I support her from afar in all the things that she’s done — on and off the court.”
Gauff has won three of their four head-to-head matches since that unforgettable night in Ashe.
“I remember it was a tough moment for me, because it was a hyped-up match. … I guess I put way too much pressure on myself, thinking I maybe had a chance in that moment to actually do something, which I definitely did, but I think it was just I felt more expectation than I should than maybe belief,” Gauff said.
“It would be a cool, kind of, deja vu type of situation,” Gauff said Saturday, “but hopefully it will be a different result.”
Venus Williams reaches the 3rd round of women’s doubles at the US Open
Williams and Leylah Fernandez reached the third round of women’s doubles with a 7-6 (1), 6-1 win over Ulrikke Eikeri and Eri Hozumi. The 45-year-old Williams is playing doubles at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time since 2022.
What else happened at the US Open on Saturday?
No. 1 Jannik Sinner dropped a set in New York for the first time since last year’s quarterfinals but righted himself for a 5-7, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 victory over No. 27 Denis Shapovalov. Other men moving on included Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime, who knocked off third-seeded Alexander Zverev, and No. 10 Lorenzo Musetti, whose opponent in an all-Italian match, No. 23 Flavio Cobolli, stopped because of a painful right arm. Women into the fourth round included No. 2 Iga Swiatek, who rallied from down 5-1 in the first set to win, and No. 11 Karolina Muchova — a U.S. Open semifinalist in 2023 and 2024 and the woman who beat Williams in the first round this year.
Who is playing Sunday at Flushing Meadows?
Novak Djokovic, Taylor Fritz, Aryna Sabalenka and Jessica Pegula are among the players who will be attempting to reach the quarterfinals by winning Sunday.
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Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
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