The moment the U.S. Open draw was revealed, I sought out Naomi Osaka's name, eager to see who the two-time champion would face in the first round.
Even Osaka optimists had little recent evidence that this sort of performance was forthcoming. She lost in the final round of qualifying at the Cincinnati Open.
Instead, Osaka swept Ostapenko off the court with a dominant 6-3, 6-2 win in just 64 minutes, my first top-10 win since January 2020.
After all, she attended the 2023 tournament as a fan and has been building her season around peaking here in New York.
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