So far, so good for Naomi Osaka and
her new coach at the US Open
[August 29, 2025]
By HOWARD FENDRICH
NEW YORK (AP) — Naomi Osaka is back in the third round of the U.S.
Open for the first time since 2021, the year after she won her
second championship at Flushing Meadows.
She's playing rather well at the moment, too, under the guidance of
a new coach. Just don't expect Osaka to weigh in on whether she
feels as if she is ready to make another deep run at the place.
“Honestly, I don’t really know. I don’t make it my business to know
anymore. I kind of just leave it up in the air,” the 23rd-seeded
Osaka said after eliminating Hailey Baptiste 6-3, 6-1 in the second
round in just 70 minutes Thursday. “For me, I realize that I’ve done
everything that I could. I’ve trained really hard. I practiced
really hard. If it happens, it happens.”
Osaka's four Grand Slam trophies all arrived on hard courts: two at
the U.S. Open, two at the Australian Open. Since her 2020 title in
New York, her trips there have gone this way: losses in the third
round in 2021, first round in 2022, second round last year.
The surface tends to favor the big serves and powerful, first-strike
tennis Osaka is best known for, and something she displayed against
Baptiste, of course, although she also demonstrated a willingness to
vary speeds and spins.
The other talent Osaka is using to great effect so far this week is
returning that gets an opponent on the defensive. Osaka already has
won 11 of the 18 return games she's played so far, including during
a 6-3, 6-4 win over Greet Minnen in the first round.
After her third-round exit at Wimbledon last month, Osaka split from
coach Patrick Mouratoglou and began working with Tomasz Wiktorowski,
who used to be part of Iga Swiatek's team.
One key, Osaka said: Wiktorowski has encouraged her to focus more on
the placement of her shots “and not necessarily going for winners
most of the time.”
They appear to be making quick progress — and Osaka said her
impression of him changed quickly.
“Honestly, I didn’t know him, I thought he was very scary, because
he’s very tall and he didn’t smile,” she said. “Now that we’re
working together, I see that he smiles often. He has a very friendly
smile, and it’s very nice. That’s my little fun fact about Tomasz.”
Venus Williams gets a US Open women's doubles victory
Venus Williams earned her first win in a U.S. Open women's doubles
match since 2014 — and this time, her partner wasn't younger sister
Serena but Leylah Fernandez. The 45-year-old Williams, who recently
returned to the tour after a 16-month absence, and Fernandez
eliminated the sixth-seeded pair of Lyudmyla Kichenok and Ellen
Perez 7-6 (4), 6-3.
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Jannik Sinner, of Italy, returns a shot to Alexei Popyrin, of
Australia, during the second round of the U.S. Open tennis
championships, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth
Wenig)
What else happened at the US Open on Thursday?
Wimbledon champions Swiatek and Jannik Sinner both won — his victory
was much more straightforward than hers. Swiatek had some trouble
before getting past Suzan Lamens, a Dutch player ranked 66th who'd
never appeared at a Grand Slam tournament until this year, by a 6-1,
4-6, 6-4 score. Sinner was just fine in a 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 win against
Alexei Popyrin, who beat Novak Djokovic at the U.S. Open a year ago.
In prime time, Coco Gauff fought through serving issues and wiped
away tears on the way to beating Donna Vekic 7-6 (5), 6-2, and
fellow American Amanda Anisimova defeated Maya Joint 7-6 (2), 6-2,
while on the men’s side and on the men’s side No. 3 seed Alexander
Zverev rolled past Jacob Fearnley 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 and 14th-seeded
Tommy Paul needed nearly 4 1/2 hours to put away Nuno Borges 7-6
(6), 6-3, 5-7, 5-7, 7-5 early Friday morning after winning the first
two sets and losing the next two. The match ended at 1:46 a.m.
Who is on Friday's schedule at the US Open?
Carlos Alcaraz, the 2022 men's champion, and Jessica Pegula, the
2024 women's runner-up, play their third-round matches in Arthur
Ashe Stadium during the day session. Djokovic, owner of 24 Grand
Slam titles, meets Cam Norrie in Ashe at night, followed by American
Taylor Townsend — who got into a back-and-forth with her opponent,
Jelena Ostapenko, after their second-round match — against No. 5
seed Mirra Andreeva, an 18-year-old from Russia.
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