Naomi Osaka Battles Back to Reach US Open Third Round

Naomi Osaka walked into Arthur Ashe Stadium dressed for the occasion. Long white jacket, silver and white kit underneath, white visor cutting through the New York glare. A very different look from her opener, when she strode in under the lights in black, hair in cornrows, nodding to Allen Iverson. Same message, though: she is here to make noise again in Queens.

For half an hour, it looked like she might be off court almost as quickly as she arrived.

Osaka, the No. 13 seed and two-time US Open champion, tore through the opening set 6-2 against Katerina Siniakova on Thursday, dictating with clean first strikes and barely a loose swing in sight. Four unforced errors in the set. That was it. Siniakova, the world No. 1 in doubles but far less threatening in singles against someone of Osaka’s pedigree, simply could not stay with her.

Osaka broke early in the second, stretched the lead to 4-2, and the afternoon seemed to be heading for a routine conclusion.

Then the match turned.

Serving at 4-2, Osaka got dragged into a long, draining game. Siniakova dug in, extended rallies, and finally broke. Osaka’s rhythm cracked, and with it, her composure. The errors started to spill out — 20 of them in that second set alone after the near-perfect opener. Her first-strike tennis lost its edge, her footwork looked heavier, and suddenly Siniakova had something to chase.

The Czech sensed the opening and refused to let go. Osaka’s level dipped just enough, her forehand leaking wide or long by inches, and the set slipped away 7-5. A match that had felt all but finished now sat level, the stadium tightening with it.

Osaka disappeared for a bathroom break. When she came back, the mood had shifted again.

“The match was definitely really tough and I don't know, I just felt like I had to fight,” she said afterward. “I definitely had a couple opportunities in the second set and I think I was a little bit too hard on myself. So I took the bathroom break, regrouped a little, came back and just tried to have no regrets.”

That reset showed immediately. Osaka broke for 2-0 in the decider, stepping inside the baseline again, taking time away, snapping through her groundstrokes with the conviction that had gone missing. The serve returned as a weapon instead of a liability. The body language hardened.

The point that summed it up came early in the third. Nineteen shots, both players trading from the back of the court, Siniakova refusing to back off. Osaka finally surged forward and finished the rally with a crisp volley winner. No roar. Just a visible exhale, a flash of relief more than celebration. The kind of point that tells a player their game is back where it needs to be.

From there, she did not let go. The third set raced by 6-1, Osaka closing out a 6-2, 5-7, 6-1 victory and a place in the third round. Not flawless, not straightforward, but the sort of grind she has often needed in New York before the real tests arrive.

Around the grounds, the women’s draw moved at different speeds. Iga Swiatek, the 2022 US Open champion, barely broke stride in a 6-3, 6-2 win over Nadia Podoroska, a performance that looked exactly like what a top contender should produce in week one.

Alex Eala, the No. 17 seed from the Philippines, had to wait. Her match sat behind a men’s contest that refused to finish on time: No. 3 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime was dragged into a fourth set by Karen Khachanov, stretching the schedule and forcing Eala to cool her heels before finally getting on court.

The night belonged to Coco Gauff. The defending champion at Flushing Meadows, who lifted her first major here in 2023, was set to face Paula Badosa under the lights. Badosa arrived with heavy legs and little margin for error, having been pushed into a second straight day of play after rain on Tuesday forced her to complete her first-round match on Wednesday.

After Gauff and Badosa, No. 1 seed Alexander Zverev was due up, hoping for a calmer evening against Quentin Halys than the nerve-shredding five-setter he survived against Lorenzo Sonego on Tuesday. He escaped that one by a whisker, narrowly avoiding becoming the first top seed to crash out in the opening round of a men’s major since 2003.

Doubles got underway across the grounds as well, though one of the tournament’s most anticipated pairings stayed off the schedule for now. Serena Williams and Venus Williams did not play on Thursday and are expected to open their campaign on Friday against Hao-Ching Chan and Maya Joint — the same Joint who beat Serena in singles at Wimbledon this summer.

The rain that had smothered the event for days finally cleared, leaving New York under bright sunshine as play began. Osaka used it to push herself one step deeper into a tournament she knows better than most. The tennis was uneven, the emotions anything but. The question now is whether this kind of bruising early test becomes the foundation for another serious run in a city where her story is still very much unfinished.