Naomi Osaka reached her first WTA 1000 semi-final in more than three years with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over 10th seeds Elina Svitolina at the Canadian Open in Montreal on Tuesday (5 August).
The last time Osaka made it this deep in a 1000 tournament was at the Miami Open in April 2022 – before she had her daughter in July 2023.
Osaka – who has only dropped one set at this event – appears to be picking it up at the right time ahead of the US Open later this month, which she has won twice in 2018 and 2020.
“I think I’m going to be seeded in the US Open now because I won my match,” Osaka said in her on-court interview. “That was a really big goal for me and I’m just really excited.
“And if anyone tunes in, my outfit is super fire.”
Osaka had been near even against the 12th-ranked Svitolina with a 4-3 record in head-to-heads but the four-time Grand Slam winner was in the driver’s seat throughout the 68-minute affair.
Up 5-1 in the opening set, Svitolina managed to break Osaka for the first and only time of the match which only lit a fire under her Japanese opponent.
Osaka broke right back in the next game to take the set and never looked in the rearview mirror the rest of the way to move on.
She will face the 16th seed from Denmark, Clara Tauson, in the next round. Tauson bounced sixth-seeded Australian Open champion Madison Keys 6-1, 6-4 in her quarter-final.
AloJapan.com