Osaka's path to redemption leads through Gauff in Beijing

Six weeks ago in Cincinnati, Naomi Osaka lost in the second qualifying round. Afterward, she sat in the locker room “completely devastated” when Taylor Townsend hugged her.

“I started sobbing,” Osaka said, “and I think she was feeling really bad. I've been thinking about this moment here. It's funny that if you keep working you'll eventually get opportunities. I'm not thinking about last year now. I think about the future and what I’m capable of.”

This week in Beijing, she translates that sense of possibility with some serious echoes of her former greatness.

On Tuesday she will play perhaps her most important match this year – a fascinating round of 16 duel with number 4 seed Coco Gauff at the China Open. It will be the first time in eight years that two major champions will meet in the fourth round in Beijing.

“She is one of the best players in the world,” Osaka told reporters after defeating Katie Volynets 6-3, 6-2 on Monday. “I think it will be a really cool test for me. I’m excited to play the game and I know people are excited to watch the game.”

Beijing: Results | Order of play | Pulls

Osaka obviously enjoys these high-profile games.

Earlier this year, Osaka almost pulled off a massive upset against world No. 1 Iga Swiatek at Roland Garros. Playing on a red clay surface that counteracts her best attributes, Osaka took a 4-1 lead in the third set of her second-round match. Swiatek, a three-time French Open champion, saved a match point and came back to win – en route to her fourth title in Paris.

“Probably the most entertaining game I’ve played so far,” Osaka later told reporters. “I saw Iga win this tournament last year and I was pregnant. It was just my dream to be able to play her. When I think about it, I think I’m doing pretty well.”

Osaka also did pretty well in Beijing.

She won three matches in a row 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, number 21 seed Yulia Putintseva (in three sets) and Volynets.

Osaka hasn't won four games in a row since reaching the final in Miami two and a half years ago. On the other hand, the victory over Volynets was Osaka's ninth consecutive victory in Beijing, taking the title here in 2019.

She won her four major titles all on hard courts like the one in Beijing, adding to 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 obviously very athletic,” Osaka said of Gauff. “I think my strongest attributes are aggressiveness and also my serve. So it will definitely be a battle to see who wants to take control of the point first – and I think it will be me.”

This is Osaka's first tournament under coach Patrick Mouratoglou, best known for his long-standing collaboration with Serena Williams. Osaka said it is still a work in progress. She was “a little confused” against Putintseva, but the two sorted it out after the game.

The head-to-head record between Gauff and Osaka is a dead heat at 2-1, but there is an asterisk.

When they first met, at the 2019 US Open, Gauff was only 15 years old. The following year, 16-year-old Gauff won his match at the Australian Open. Osaka won in three sets in Cincinnati in 2021 and Gauff prevailed in San Jose in 2022 – even though she had not yet become a top 10 player and major champion.

Like Osaka, this is Gauff's first tournament with a new coaching team. Following her split from Brad Gilbert, she added Matt Daly to her two-person coaching team.

Gauff's two wins here were strikingly similar – she beat Clara Burel 7-5, 6-3 and then No. 26 Katie Boulter 7-5, 6-2. She reached her seventh round of 16 in a WTA 1000 tournament this year and has already achieved 47 match wins in these events.

The 20-year-old American converted four of seven break point chances against Boulter and has 100 break conversions in the WTA 1000 this year, second only to Swiatek. She was a semi-finalist in her debut here last year and this year she is looking to collect points to qualify for the WTA Finals for the third year in a row.

“Obviously Naomi is a tough opponent, no matter what shape she is in,” Gauff said afterwards. “I've played against them a lot now… so we've only played against each other on hard courts, which is so strange.”

All in all, Osaka has more at stake here. She is ranked 73rd in the PIF-WTA rankings and needs to finish in the low 30s with the aim of being seeded at next year's Australian Open. Further progress in Beijing could bring them back into the top 50.

But first she must contend with Gauff, a formidable foe who, like Osaka himself, is out to seize the moment.