Naomi Osaka Falls to Elena Rybakina in US Open Fourth Round

Naomi Osaka’s latest New York run ended with a thud, not a roar.

The two-time US Open champion was swept aside by No. 2 seed Elena Rybakina on Monday, beaten 6-1, 6-4 in the fourth round as the Kazakh’s power game tore through the night air and Osaka’s resistance.

For Osaka, a player who once owned this court and this stage, the defeat underlined a stark reality: she will go a fifth straight year without a major title.

Rybakina in full command

Rybakina walked into Arthur Ashe Stadium as the reigning Australian Open champion and left it looking every bit like a woman hunting down another hard-court crown.

She dominated the opening set 6-1, taking time away from Osaka with flat, heavy strikes off both wings and a serve that rarely offered a look-in. Osaka, who had battled through a draining three-set win over Elise Mertens — 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 — late on Saturday, never found the same rhythm or depth.

The pressure told early. Rybakina broke quickly, held firm on serve, and Osaka’s forehand, once the most feared shot in the women’s game on this surface, misfired too often to trouble a player of this calibre.

The second set brought more resistance. Osaka steadied, held serve, and tried to extend the rallies, but Rybakina refused to blink. The No. 2 seed kept landing first strikes, kept Osaka pinned behind the baseline, and closed out the match 6-4 with the assurance of a player who knows she belongs deep in the second week of majors.

For the first time in her career, Rybakina is into the US Open quarterfinals. At 27, with Australian Open and Wimbledon titles already in her pocket, she is edging closer to a third major that would confirm her as one of the defining players of this era.

Osaka’s search continues

Osaka’s path through 2026 has been a grind rather than a coronation.

She missed the Australian Open with an abdominal injury, then pieced her game together well enough to reach the fourth round at Roland Garros and the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. In New York, she looked like she might be building towards something again, especially after surviving Mertens in a tense third-round battle that stretched to 7-5 in the decider.

But the ceiling arrived quickly on Monday.

Osaka, champion here in 2018 and 2020 and a semifinalist last year, still hasn’t moved past the quarterfinal stage at any major this season. The aura that once wrapped itself around her on hard courts is not gone, but it no longer guarantees opponents will fold. Rybakina, composed and ruthless, treated this as just another obstacle on a march toward the final weekend.

The questions around Osaka now sharpen. The results show progress, not yet resurgence. The flashes are there, the full storm is not.

A new threat on the other side of the draw

Rybakina’s reward is a quarterfinal date with Qinwen Zheng on Wednesday, a matchup that suddenly feels like one of the most intriguing of the tournament.

Zheng arrives riding a surge of her own after an eye-catching upset of No. 8 seed Iga Swiatek, 7-5, 6-3, in Monday’s other fourth-round clash. Taking out a player of Swiatek’s stature in straight sets sends a message. Doing it while Rybakina quietly carves her own path on the opposite baseline sets up a collision of form and ambition.

Rybakina is chasing history. Zheng is chasing a breakthrough. Osaka, for now, is left chasing herself.

In a city where she once set the standard, others are now setting the pace.