Although Naomi Osaka tasted a title triumph (WTA 125K Saint-Malo, FR) before the clay-court major, she made an early exit from the French Open this year. Following her three-set defeat to Paula Badosa, the Japanese star said she “hates disappointing people.” However, her disappointments didn’t end there! Even in the grass-court swing, she failed to impress her fans. But despite witnessing multiple ups and downs in recent times, it seems Osaka has finally managed to steady her ship on the North American hard courts.

She was defeated in the R16 of the Citi Open by Emma Raducanu, but at the Canadian Open, she has now already defeated the likes of Jelena Ostapenko, Elina Svitolina, and in-form Clara Tauson to book a spot in the final. This will be her second final of this season after the ASB Classic, where she was forced to give a walkover to Tauson after playing just one set. Next up for her in the final is the 18-year-old Canadian Victoria Mboko, who recently defeated the former world number 3, Elena Rybakina, in the SF by 1-6,7-5,7-6(4). With this victory, Mboko has now become the youngest Canadian woman in the Open Era to reach the final of the Canadian Open.

We’ve already seen plenty of support for this youngster in this tournament. As soon as she secured the match point, we saw Mboko dropping down to the court with the crowd chanting, “Allez Vicky“. She saved a match point in the third set and broke Rybakina twice to force the tiebreaker. Insane resilience from this youngster! This is really going to be a tough challenge for the four-time Grand Slam winner in her next match. Speaking about her upcoming task, Naomi Osaka made a special request to the Canadian Open crowd. After the match, during the post-match interview, she said, “I mean, she’s Canadian, I heard the applause from inside there, so I’m pretty sure it’s going to be super lively.”

Having said that, she also added, “But I really appreciate that because it means you guys are invested in the match, but I hope like one or two people cheer for me too, hopefully.” On one side, there is someone who is already a proven campaigner, while on the other side, the teenager has a lot to prove to the tennis world. The atmosphere is surely going to be electrifying inside the stadium in the final!

Recently, Elena Ryabkina was asked to share her thoughts about the atmosphere inside the stadium in her match against the local favorite. In this SF clash, we saw the crowd even cheering for Rybakina’s mistakes. Reacting to all of these in her post-match interview, the Kazakhstani added, “Yeah, that wasn’t nice, of course. I played in a lot of situations where the crowd was supporting the player, but I would say that here it was pretty tough from the very beginning.“

Coming back to Naomi Osaka’s excellent run at the Canadian Open, well, the Japanese superstar has now managed to draw the attention of several tennis bigwigs with her impressive performance in this tournament.

Naomi Osaka’s ex-coach shares his thoughts on her incredible performance in Montreal

Ranked 49th in the world, Naomi Osaka has a win-loss record of 21-11 this season. But with her impressive performances at the Canadian Open, she has now gone up to the 24th spot in the WTA Live Rankings. As a result of this, she has now almost secured her chances of being seeded in the upcoming US Open. Speaking on this after her match against Svitolina, she said, “I think I’m going to be seeded in the US Open now because I won my match. So, umm…that was a really big goal for me.“

Now, with her impressive win over Tauson, Naomi Osaka has reached her first WTA 1000 final since 2022. What a comeback it has been for the former world number!

Just over a week ago, before the start of the Canadian Open, she parted ways with Patrick Mouratoglou. However, on Tuesday, the Frenchman gave an interview to CNN Sports. In that interview, he said, “She’s doing well for the moment in Montreal. Let’s hope she’s going to go all the way. I think her level of tennis is here. Physically, she is ready, and she’s a great competitor, she’s a great champion. So at some point, it’s going to work out. I have no doubt about it.“

Seeing her brilliance in Montreal, Serena Williams’ ex-coach, Rick Macci, even drew a comparison with another tennis legend, Roger Federer. He tweeted, “Osaka is competing better and ripping the forehand like Federer. She has more belief, and that triggers a big relief. With the long overdue coaching change, she has found that explosive Naomi range. She is fighting till the end and is heading towards the top ten.“

Talking about the secret to her recent success, Naomi Osaka claimed that she’s winning because she’s happier. Can Osaka increase her happiness further with a title triumph at the Canadian Open?