Rybakina beats Osaka 6-1 6-4 and reaches the US Open quarter-finals

Elena Rybakina beat Naomi Osaka 6-1 6-4 in 66 minutes on Louis Armstrong Stadium on 7 September and reached the US Open quarter-finals. The second seed from Kazakhstan next plays Zheng Qinwen of China. Rybakina has not dropped a set in New York. She already holds Wimbledon 2022 and the 2026 Australian Open.

The first set lasted 21 or 22 minutes depending on the clock in the press seats. Rybakina broke twice. Osaka, the 13th seed and a two-time champion at this event, double-faulted twice at 2-1 and did not win another game in the set. The New York Post counted those double faults as the hinge. Reuters counted two breaks from three break points and a closing serve that left Osaka with no answer.

The second set and the Achilles

Osaka held better at the start of the second set. She clutched her left leg at 2-2, still dealing with an Achilles problem that had flared in the third round. She saved a break point and stayed in the set. At 3-all she missed four serves in a row, the Post reported. Rybakina broke in the seventh game when Osaka put a forehand in the net, then served out the match.

Match statistics published after the round gave Rybakina 29 winners and 17 unforced errors. Osaka had one break point in the whole match and did not convert it. Laura Robson, working the match for Sky Sports, said there was no part of the court where Osaka found room. The crowd wanted the match to last. Rybakina's length from the baseline and her first-serve speed closed that wish in just over an hour.

Osaka had arrived in a fur-collared coat with city-scene panels and a portrait printed on it. The clothing made the first pictures. The tennis did not follow the coat. She is 28. A home Slam that once sat in her hands now ended in the round of 16 against a taller, heavier ball.

What the quarter-final is worth

Zheng Qinwen is the Olympic champion and was listed around ranking 121 in one match-preview feed, a figure that does not match her usual standing and should be treated as a data error in that feed. Head-to-head going into the match was given as 4-1 for one of the two players, again depending on the database. The sporting fact is simpler. Zheng had just come back to beat Iga Swiatek on the same day. Rybakina had just walked through Osaka.

The ranking math was written three ways on Monday night. Reuters said one more win would put Rybakina one match from world number one. The BBC said a quarter-final win would make her number one even if Aryna Sabalenka later defended the title. Sky said she would take the top spot if she reached the semi-finals. Those three sentences cannot all be true in the same WTA table. What is true is that Rybakina is second, Sabalenka is first, and the New York quarter-final is the next ranking event that can change the order.

Rybakina's own comment was short. Fight until the end in the next match, she said. If she serves as she did against Osaka, she thinks she has a chance. That is the correct size of claim after a 66-minute win. Zheng is a different problem. Swiatek found that out a few hours earlier.