Osaka's path to redemption runs through Gauff in Beijing

Six weeks ago in Cincinnati, Naomi Osaka lost in the second round of qualifying. Afterward, she sat in the locker room “absolutely devastated,” when Taylor Townsend gave her a hug.

“I started sobbing,” Osaka said, “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 possibility with some serious flashes of her former greatness.

On Tuesday, she’ll play perhaps her most meaningful match this year -- an intriguing Round of 16 meeting with No.4 seed Coco Gauff at the China Open. It’s the first time in eight years two major champions have met in the fourth round at Beijing.

“She’s one of the best players in the world,” Osaka told 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 year at Roland Garros, Osaka came close to staging a massive upset of World No.1 Iga Swiatek. Playing on a red-clay surface that works against her best 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 point and came back to win -- on her way to a fourth title in Paris.

“Probably the most fun match that I have played so far,” Osaka told 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 pretty well in Beijing, too. 

She’s won three consecutive matches for the first time in more than four months, when she reached the Round of 16 at the Italian Open. Her victims at the China Open: Lucia Bronzetti, No.21 seed Yulia Putintseva (in three sets) and Volynets. 

Osaka hasn’t won four straight matches since reaching the final in Miami two-and-a-half years ago. On the other hand, the win over Volynets was Osaka’s ninth straight win in Beijing, going back to her title here in 2019.

Her four major titles all came on hard courts like Beijing’s, which amplify her already dangerous serve. Osaka had five aces against Volynets and won 38 of her 50 service points (76 percent).

“She has a great serve, she’s very athletic, obviously,” Osaka said 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 tournament under coach Patrick Mouratoglou, best known for his longtime work with Serena Williams. It is, Osaka said, a work in progress. Against Putintseva, she was “a little bit confused,” but after the match the two sorted it out.

The head-to-head record between Gauff and Osaka is a dead heat, at 2-all, but there’s an asterisk.

The first time they met, at the 2019 US Open, Gauff was only 15 years old. The following year, the 16-year-old Gauff won their match at the Australian Open. Osaka had a three-set win at Cincinnati in 2021 and Gauff prevailed at San Jose in 2022 -- even though she had yet to become a Top 10 player and a major champion.

Like Osaka, this is Gauff's first tournament with a new coaching setup. After splitting with Brad Gilbert, she has added Matt Daly to her two-man coaching team.

Gauff’s two wins here have been strikingly similar -- she defeated Clara Burel 7-5, 6-3 and then No.26 Katie Boulter 7-5, 6-2. She’s through to her seventh Round of 16 at a WTA 1000 tournament this year and has already amassed 47 match-wins in these events.

The 20-year-old American converted four of seven break-point opportunities against Boulter and has 100 break conversions at WTA 1000s this year, second only to Swiatek. She was a semifinalist on her debut here last year, and this year comes in looking to earn points 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 said afterward. “I’ve played her a lot now … so we’ve only played each other on hard court, which is so strange.”

All things considered, there’s more at stake here for Osaka. She’s at No.73 in the PIF WTA Rankings and, with the goal of being seeded at next year’s Australian Open, needs to be in the low 30s. Further progress in Beijing could put her back in the Top 50.

But first she has to contend with Gauff, a formidable foe, who just like Osaka herself, is eager to seize the moment.