Elena Rybakina Dominates Osaka to Reach US Open Quarterfinals
Elena Rybakina needed just 66 minutes in New York to turn a marquee fourth-round clash into a statement. The Kazakh star dismantled Naomi Osaka 6-1, 6-4 at Flushing Meadows, booking her place in the US Open quarterfinals and moving to within one win of the world No. 1 ranking.
This was billed as a heavyweight contest. It never really became one.
A blistering start
Rybakina, seeded No. 2, came out swinging and never loosened her grip on the match. Her first set was ruthless: 22 minutes of clean, heavy hitting that left Osaka scrambling and mostly reacting.
She broke twice from three chances, read Osaka’s serve early, and closed the set with the kind of booming delivery that has become her signature. Osaka, the No. 13 seed, struggled to find any rhythm, rushed by the depth and pace of Rybakina’s groundstrokes.
The scoreboard said 6-1. The feel of it was even more one-sided.
Osaka fights, but the body bites back
Osaka did not fold. At the start of the second set she raised her level, holding serve with more authority and finally landing a few first strikes of her own. The rallies stretched. The noise in the stadium grew. For a brief spell, it looked like the contest the schedule had promised.
At 2-2, the tone changed again.
Osaka reached for her left leg, clearly troubled by an Achilles tendon issue that had already flared in the third round. She played on, saving a break point in that game with brave hitting, but the discomfort was obvious between points.
The pressure, though, kept coming from the other side of the net.
Rybakina continued to lean on her serve and unload off the return. Osaka clung on until 3-3, but in the seventh game the dam finally broke. A tight forehand from the Japanese player flew long, handing Rybakina the decisive break for 4-3.
From there, the result felt inevitable. Rybakina protected her lead with authority, backing up her serve with first-strike forehands and refusing to offer Osaka even a glimmer of a comeback.
One last clean service game, one last heavy delivery, and it was over: 6-1, 6-4.
One win from the summit
The victory does more than send Rybakina into the last eight in New York. It puts her on the brink of a new career peak.
She is now one win away from becoming world No. 1 for the first time, a milestone that would underline her rise from dangerous outsider to established force at the very top of the women’s game.
Standing in her way in the quarterfinals is Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen, a player whose aggressive style and big-match temperament promise a very different kind of test.
Rybakina arrives with a major champion’s pedigree already in place. She lifted the Wimbledon trophy in 2022 and added the Australian Open title in 2026, proving she can dominate on the sport’s biggest stages.
Now she has a shot at something even more rare: a place at the summit of the rankings, earned under the lights of New York and against the backdrop of a US Open that suddenly feels like it might belong to her.
