Latest news with #U.S.Open
Japan Today
37 minutes ago
- Sport
- Japan Today
Raducanu beats Naomi Osaka at DC Open to win their first matchup
Emma Raducanu, of Britain, returns the ball to Marta Kostyuk, of Ukraine, during a match at the Citi Open tennis tournament Tuesday, July 22, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass) tennis Emma Raducanu dominated her first career matchup against Naomi Osaka, winning the showdown at the DC Open on Thursday between past U.S. Open champions 6-4, 6-2. Raducanu, the only qualifier to claim a Grand Slam title when she did that in New York in 2021, saved the only two break points she faced and managed to break the big-serving Osaka three times. Osaka was hurt by seven double-faults. She won the U.S. Open and Australian Open twice each. Raducanu, who is ranked 46th, will face Maria Sakkari in the quarterfinals. Sakkari eliminated No. 2 seed Emma Navarro on Wednesday. Venus Williams, the seven-time Grand Slam singles champion back on tour at age 45, was scheduled to face Magdalena Frech at night. Winners in men's action Thursday at the hard-court tournament in Washington included No. 8 seed Daniil Medvedev and No. 14 seed Brandon Nakashima. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
NBC Sports
37 minutes ago
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Emma Raducanu beats Naomi Osaka at the DC Open in their first matchup
WASHINGTON — Emma Raducanu dominated her first career matchup against Naomi Osaka, winning the showdown at the D.C. Open on Thursday between past U.S. Open champions 6-4, 6-2. 'I did feel it had a bit of extra,' Raducanu said. 'It's a match that I feel a lot of people were talking about beforehand. I knew that ahead of the match, but I actually quite like these kind of matchups, where you're playing a great opponent. A lot of people have eyes on the match. They're into it. I enjoy it. I'm just pleased with how I was able to navigate playing a four-time Slam champ.' Raducanu, the first qualifier to claim a Grand Slam title when she did that in New York in 2021, saved the only two break points she faced and managed to break the big-serving Osaka three times. 'I'm serving better, and that helps a lot. I always returned pretty decent, but the element of just when I serve well, it does add another dimension to my game,' Raducanu said. 'I'm able to kind of start the points better and look for my forehand and get that into play a bit more and then dictate.' Osaka was hurt by seven double-faults. 'I feel like from the baseline, I was doing pretty well,' said Osaka, who the U.S. Open and Australian Open twice each. 'I think there are certain situations where she got one more ball back and I was kind of just looking and waiting.' Raducanu, who is ranked 46th, will face Maria Sakkari in the quarterfinals. Sakkari eliminated No. 2 seed Emma Navarro on Wednesday. Venus Williams, the seven-time Grand Slam singles champion back on tour at age 45, was scheduled to face Magdalena Frech at night. Winners in men's action Thursday at the hard-court tournament in Washington included No. 4 seed Ben Shelton, No. 7 Alex de Minaur, No. 8 Daniil Medvedev, No. 12 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and No. 14 Brandon Nakashima.
Washington Post
2 hours ago
- Sport
- Washington Post
Emma Raducanu, in midst of career resurgence, ousts Naomi Osaka at DC Open
Though Emma Raducanu is only 22, her career has already been an odyssey. After soaring to a top-10 world ranking in 2022, injuries derailed her 2023 campaign, and by the time she returned to the court the following year, she had dropped outside the top 300. But she has gotten on track in recent months, ascending back into the top 50 as her form has continued to improve — an ascent that continued Thursday at the DC Open when she ousted former world No. 1 Naomi Osaka 6-4, 6-2 to advance to the tournament's quarterfinals. It was the first-ever match between Raducanu and Osaka, who have combined for five Grand Slam titles. 'I feel composed,' Raducanu said after her victory. 'I think that's a product of just the amount of work I'm doing behind the scenes that maybe people don't see. I love that, I love banking it in, doing everything in the shadows. Yeah, and then I feel pretty calm, because I know regardless of the result I'm doing the right things.' Raducanu, 22, burst onto the scene when she won the U.S. Open in 2021 as an 18-year-old qualifier. But injuries that required three surgeries in 2023 led to her not playing a match between April 2023 and January 2024. Beyond the physical setbacks, Raducanu has said that she wasn't necessarily ready for the success when it came her way so suddenly in 2021. Returning to a championship level has been a challenge, she said, but she credits a more measured approach — and being less 'volatile' — for helping improve her performance. 'Minimizing the amount of time that I go down or go into myself,' Raducanu said. 'I think I have done a really good job of that, and that's my main objective now, because the results are so fleeting. Even if you win the U.S. Open, you're great for about a few days, and then straight back to it.' In beating Osaka, Raducanu excelled from the baseline. Osaka struggled with her serve, with seven double faults to just one for Raducanu. And Raducanu was nearly perfect on break points, converting three of her four opportunities. This will be Raducanu's third quarterfinal appearance in a WTA Tour event this year. In her first-round match, Raducanu beat Marta Kostyuk, the tournament's No. 7 seed and the No. 26 player in the world. It marked Raducanu's 11th win over a top-50 opponent this year. Raducanu will face Maria Sakkari, who eliminated No. 2 seed Emma Navarro on Wednesday, in the quarterfinals. 'I think when I watch myself now, I really like how I look on the court,' Raducanu said. 'Not in like a narcissistic way. I mean in terms of energy, and I think I feel quite upbeat. The pink outfit is pretty cute as well.'
San Francisco Chronicle
3 hours ago
- Sport
- San Francisco Chronicle
Emma Raducanu beats Naomi Osaka at the DC Open to win their first matchup
WASHINGTON (AP) — Emma Raducanu dominated her first career matchup against Naomi Osaka, winning the showdown at the D.C. Open on Thursday between past U.S. Open champions 6-4, 6-2. Raducanu, the only qualifier to claim a Grand Slam title when she did that in New York in 2021, saved the only two break points she faced and managed to break the big-serving Osaka three times. Osaka was hurt by seven double-faults. She won the U.S. Open and Australian Open twice each. Raducanu, who is ranked 46th, will face Maria Sakkari in the quarterfinals. Sakkari eliminated No. 2 seed Emma Navarro on Wednesday. Venus Williams, the seven-time Grand Slam singles champion back on tour at age 45, was scheduled to face Magdalena Frech at night. Winners in men's action Thursday at the hard-court tournament in Washington included No. 8 seed Daniil Medvedev and No. 14 seed Brandon Nakashima.
Los Angeles Times
3 hours ago
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
Kanoa Igarashi, ranked No. 3 in the world, happy to be back home for U.S. Open of Surfing
Kanoa Igarashi might have a little trouble recognizing the competition when the Huntington Beach resident paddles out on the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier throughout next week during the U.S. Open of Surfing. Over the past six months, Igarashi has been laser-focused on surfing on the World Surf League's Championship Tour (CT) in an effort to win a world championship. Currently ranked No. 3 in the world, Igarashi will be the only surfer still with a chance to win a world title competing in the Open, which begins Saturday and runs through Sunday, Aug. 3, when the men's and women's winners will be crowned. All the other men's division athletes still in the hunt for a world championship have chosen not to compete and instead focus on the CT contest that begins Aug. 7 in Tahiti. That includes Igarashi's longtime rival Griffin Colapinto of San Clemente, the 2021 U.S. Open winner who is currently ranked No. 6 in the world. The Tahiti event is the final contest of the CT's 11-event regular season, with the top five in the season's point standings qualifying for the championship finals in Fiji during the final week of August. Igarashi admitted that skipping the Open to focus on Tahiti and securing a spot in the finals did cross his mind, but it was never a serious consideration. 'I definitely thought about it, but at the end of the day, whether or not I'm in the U.S. Open, I'm just doing my daily routine,' he said. 'As long as I can get to Tahiti a few days in advance, and get rid of the jet lag, I'll be fine. 'I'd be surfing Huntington every single day anyway, so surfing in the U.S. Open doesn't tire me out, thankfully. And I get to spend time with my friends, spend time at home, I'm sleeping in my bed, and I'm only driving three minutes to the pier. I feel like I'm recovering for Tahiti while competing in the U.S. Open. I feel like if it was going to tire me out or distract me, I wouldn't compete. Competing at home, competing in the U.S. Open, it just rejuvenates me.' Indeed, the Open holds a special place in Igarashi's heart. He won back-to-back Open crowns in 2017 and '18, and puts those contest victories at the top of his professional career. 'It was my first big win, so when I won the U.S. Open I was like, OK I think I can move on and do bigger things,' he said. 'It was a confidence booster. To this day, it's right up there with my Bali win and right up there with my [Olympic] silver medal, it's all on the same platform.' The win in Bali in 2019 is the only CT contest Igarashi has won in what is now his ninth season. But he's been to a final six times, including twice this season. It's a reflection of the progress the 27-year-old has made over the years since qualifying for the CT when he was just 17. On paper, Igarshi's biggest competition in the Open will be Mexico's Alan Cleland, who is ranked No. 19 in the world and won last year's Open. Cleland will compete in Tahiti, but is too far down in the points standings to have a chance at qualifying for the finals. Other Southern California surfers who will compete include the San Clemente crew — Kolohe Andino, Kade Matson and Jett Schilling — Long Beach's Nolan Rapoza, Malibu's Taro Watanabe, Encinitas' Levi Slawson and Ventura's Dimitri Poulos. On the women's side, two names to watch for are San Clemente's Sawyer Lindblad, currently ranked No. 11 in the world and the 2023 Open winner, and Australia's Sally Fitzgibbons, still going strong at age 34 and coming off back-to-back appearances in the Open finals. Fitzgibbons won it last year, and finished runner-up to Lindblad in 2023. For Fitzgibbons, the contest is a big one in her effort to qualify for next year's CT, which would be her 17th season on surfing's biggest stage. The Open is a Challenger Series event, with the top seven in the standings qualifying for next year's CT. Fitzgibbons is currently ranked No. 2 in the Challenger Series, but the Open is only the third of the seven contests that will determine the qualifiers. Fitzgibbons has never won a world title but has finished in the top five a remarkable 10 times, including three consecutive second-place finishes in 2010, '11 and '12. Caroline Marks, from San Clemente by way of Florida, is currently ranked No. 6 in the world but will not compete at the Open, instead focusing on Tahiti in an effort to get into the top five of the women's standings. Other Southern California women who will surf in the Open include San Clemente's Bella Kenworthy, Kirra Pinkerton and Eden Walla; Encinitas' Alyssa Spencer, Carlsbad's Reid Von Wagoner and Malibu's Talia Swindal. The Huntington Beach Longboard Classic also will be held, with the log riders competition starting Saturday and going through July 30. Out of the water, competitors will perform Saturday and Sunday in freestyle motocross (FMX), a high-flying action sport where riders perform aerial tricks on dirt bikes, using large ramps to launch themselves into the air.
