Any opponent would be on notice with how impressive Naomi Osaka has been since the start of the U.S. Open.
On Saturday, anything a player saw in the first set would especially have been alarming.
The two-time U.S. Open winner absolutely dominated the first set. She only lost eight points and didn’t drop a game while only having six unforced errors to world No. 15 Daria Kasatkina’s 12, winning 6-0 in stunning fashion.
Surely Coco Gauff, who is set to be Osaka’s fourth-round opponent, had her eyes on the Japanese player’s third-round match at Louis Armstrong Stadium on Saturday afternoon while doing her post-match routine.
It looked like Osaka would simply roll through and be set to be across the court from Gauff, the 2023 U.S. Open champion.
However, while Osaka won the third-round match 6-0, 4-6, 6-3, she did look more human in the following two sets as the Australian challenged her for the latter part of the nearly two-hour match.
“It’s been a really long journey. I’m glad to be here now. That wasn’t really in my mind playing today,” she said on the court after the match on what’s to come next week.
In the second set, Osaka made 13 of her 28 unforced errors, and Kasatkina got up the early break, 4-1, to Osaka’s frustration.
She threw her hands on her hips after her forehand error and she also started rushing between points to find her groove again.
Osaka did in the third set, getting a jump on Kasatkina early and going up 4-1 as she rallied the crowd behind her before her eventual forehand winner to move on to the fourth round.
When asked about facing Gauff, Osaka said, “Can somebody come to the match and cheer for me? It’s kinda tough playing an American here but I feel like you guys have adopted me as well. I kinda see her as a little sister so it will be fun to play her here.”