Naomi Osaka gave another demonstration of her growing confidence as she reached the third round of the US Open with an efficient 6-3, 6-1 win over Hailey Baptiste of the United States.
Osaka, the No 23 seed, put together a dominant performance as she controlled the baseline with her superior weight of shot but also showcased her improved movement and defence, which allowed her to absorb Baptiste’s offence.
As the most recent female player to win the US Open on multiple occasions, Osaka returned to New York this year in a curious position. This month in Montreal she put together the best tournament since her return from maternity leave in January 2024, defeating three top 20 players en route to her first WTA 1000 final. What should have been a significant, long-awaited breakthrough for Osaka turned into a painful evening after she fell apart in the final against Victoria Mboko and then received criticism for failing to congratulate the 18-year-old in her runner-up speech.
“I made sure to talk to her, because I know she’s young,” said Osaka. “I don’t know. I feel really terrible if that somehow impacted her humongous success. But she said it didn’t and she didn’t even really notice, so I was really glad about that. I was also really glad that she’s such a sweet girl, which also just made me feel terrible even more.”
Instead of appreciating her progress on the court, Osaka said she spent the days after Montreal processing guilt. “I just felt really bad and, like, shame,” she said. “I think I felt worse for my team, because we couldn’t really celebrate properly. They were with me this entire time, so they knew how big of a deal the final was.”
While many thought those difficulties might halt Osaka’s momentum on the court, she has performed well in her two matches this week and has put herself in position for a good run in her first grand slam tournament as a seeded player since her maternity leave. Osaka, who faces either Daria Kasatkina, the 15th seed, or Kamilla Rakhimova in the third round, will be attempting to reach a grand slam fourth round for the first time since she won the Australian Open, her fourth title at a major, in 2021.
Elsewhere, the men’s top seed, Jannik Sinner, continued to build momentum in his title defence by easing into the third round with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 win over the big-serving Australian Alexei Popyrin.
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Iga Swiatek, meanwhile, held her nerve at the end of an intense battle to close out a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 win after an impressive fight from Suzan Lamens.
Asked about the positives from such a tight match, Swiatek said: “Just being under pressure a bit, figuring it out, problem-solving, it’s always something you can take from a match like that. Just maybe playing a bit longer on [Arthur] Ashe [Stadium] also, because the surface, as usual, practice courts are totally different. I’ll focus on that.”
