Elena Rybakina crushed Naomi Osaka’s latest New York comeback bid with a cold, clean performance, marching into the US Open quarterfinals and to the brink of the No. 1 ranking.
The scoreline – 6–1, 6–4 in just 66 minutes – tells most of the story. The way she did it filled in the rest.
Rybakina sets the tone early
Under the lights at Flushing Meadows, the second seed walked on court and immediately played like a woman with two missions: reach the last eight and edge closer to the top of the rankings for the first time in her career.
She needed only 22 minutes to take the opening set. No fuss, no drama. Rybakina bullied Osaka from the baseline, snapping through her groundstrokes and backing them up with the kind of first serve that leaves opponents guessing and stretching.
Two breaks from three chances, one booming serve to close the set. Osaka, seeded 13th, barely had time to settle before the scoreboard turned against her.
Osaka fights back, but the body won’t follow
Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam champion trying to re-establish herself at the sharp end of the sport, finally dug in at the start of the second set. Her first serve began to land, the rallies lengthened, and for a brief spell the match felt like the heavyweight contest many had hoped for.
At 2–2, that hope dimmed.
Osaka suddenly reached for her left leg, clearly troubled by the Achilles tendon issue that had flared up in the third round. She still managed to fend off a break point, gritting through the pain and refusing to surrender the set on Rybakina’s terms.
But the pressure kept building. Rybakina held firm on her own delivery, stepped inside the baseline more often, and forced Osaka to defend one corner too many.
The decisive moment came in the seventh game. Osaka, stretched again, misfired on a forehand. Rybakina pounced, sealing the crucial break and with it, effectively, the match.
From there, she did not blink.
One win from No. 1
Rybakina closed out the contest with the same authority she had shown from the start, serving it out and booking her place in the quarterfinals without allowing Osaka a way back.
The victory carries weight beyond a single night in New York.
Next up is Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen, a rising force and a far sterner test of Rybakina’s ambitions. Win that, and the Kazakh star stands to become world No. 1 for the first time, adding a new line to a résumé that already includes Wimbledon 2022 and the Australian Open 2026.
She walked off Arthur Ashe Stadium having ended Osaka’s run and tightened her grip on the tournament.
Now the question is simple: can anyone loosen it before she reaches the very top?
