Naomi Osaka is back to her resilient ways. On Wednesday night she turned back 11th-seeded Karolina Muchova for a 6-4, 7-6 quarter-final victory at Arthur Ashe Stadium in just under two hours’ time. The former world No 1, who is just two years removed from watching the tournament from the stands, now finds herself back in a major semi-final for the first time since giving birth to her daughter, Shai, and well on her way toward reprising her mantle as a women’s tour standard-bearer.
The two-time US Open champion enters Thursday’s matchup against Wimbledon finalist Amanda Anisimova as the sentimental favorite. All four times that the Japanese has reached a grand slam quarter-final in her still-young career, she has gone on to win it all. Throughout this year’s US Open, she has not only sustained flashes of the belligerent game that gave rise to her hardcourt dominance. She’s shown she can move with the best of them and bide her time in long rallies and lash a winner when the moment’s right.
“Honestly, I was just trying to hang in there and see if I got an opportunity,” Osaka said afterwards of her strategy against Muchova. Add a more positive attitude to those technical improvements and self-belief, and what you have is a player who appears more than up to the challenge of taking down Anisimova, herself in the throes of a career resurgence.
Against Muchova, Osaka remained sturdy and steady in the face of the Czech’s offensive blitz. The opening games saw both women serve brilliantly but struggle to separate themselves. In the 10th game Osaka played the pressure points better and broke Muchova to stake a first-set lead. As Osaka made her way to her chair for the changeover, Muchova propped herself up with her racket to stretch out her legs behind the baseline before calling a medical timeout.
“I just stepped like a little wrong with ugly move,” said Muchova – no stranger to surprise injuries, alas. “I don’t know what it is. I think it’s just something with the muscle that’s hopefully not going to take me long to heal. But, yeah, it limited me a little bit on the court.” To stay warm in the interim, Osaka practiced her serve and flagged down new coach Tomasz Wiktorowski for a few pointers from her player’s box.
Muchova re-emerged on court after the break with wrap around her left leg that seemed as if it might hobble her. But she quickly put those concerns to rest by breaking Osaka to open the second set and by reaching deeper into her bag of tricks. Muchova’s quick hands at net helped her eke out a 4-3 lead and trip up Osaka – who could only scream and lightly spike her racket in response to the errors Muchova was inducing on her forehand. “There were a lot of moments where she broke me or she was really close to getting a really crucial moment or point,” Osaka said. “I just tried to play every point like it was the last point of the match.”
Once the frustration left Osaka, though, there was only anger and her swinging away with focused rage until she broke back and brushed away an opportunity for Muchova to serve for the set at 5-4. After splitting three more holds with Muchova, Osaka raised her level again in the tiebreaker, sprinting out to a 5-2 lead and running Muchova ragged on her bandaged leg until an unforced forehand error ended her tournament.
After the match, Osaka looked up into the stands at the adulating crowd and basked in her moment of catharsis a little while her mother, Tamaki, doubled over in her players box from emotion. “I’m surprised I’m not crying,” she said on court afterward. “Honestly, I was sitting up there watching and hoping I could have the opportunity to play on this court again. This is like my dream is coming true.”
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