If Venus Williams can do it, anyone can do it, right? The 7-time major queen made a sensational comeback to tennis last month at the Citi Open, winning her maiden encounter after two years. The 45-year-0ld showed that she’s still got it. And Japanese star Naomi Osaka followed in her idol’s footsteps at the Canadian Open. After parting ways with former coach Patrick Mouratoglou, it seemed the four-time slam champion was losing form in her rebound to tennis. But think again. It seems she may have actually found her lost spirits, and her dream run in Montreal is an inevitable proof.

Osaka proved on Tuesday night that she’s not “lost” and she’s here to stay. The tennis mom bested another tennis mom, Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina in straight sets. Osaka made her way into the semis at the Canadian Open with a scoreline of 6-2, 6-2. But it was her celebration after the victory that ultimately caught everyone’s attention. This happened to be a special occasion for the WTA pro. As soon as she won, Osaka revealed another reason for her happiness on the court. The special occasion was her friend’s birthday, who had accompanied her to the Centre Court. “That’s my friend’s birthday, can we wish her?”, said Osaka during the post-match interview.

“Happy Birthday, Alex! Can we say that 1,2,3…singing the whole song? Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you Alex!” The on-court commentator had a wholesome reaction to this playful occasion. “You can keep going, you are doing great, by the way.” Osaka then followed her friend, who was leaving the court, and surrounded her in a hilarious way, issuing a playful warning, “You are blocked.”

Osaka shared this moment on her Instagram story. Dropping the clip of wishing Alex, she simply wrote, “Little did she know the whole stadium was gonna sing her happy birthday a couple hours later lol @alexboston happy birthday 🥳 !!!”

Coming back to the match itself, Osaka’s performance has pushed her chances of securing a ‘special status’ ahead of the US Open. She had an intriguing reaction to her win against Svitolina, which was a comfortable victory.

Naomi Osaka eyes US Open after a stellar campaign in Montreal

After earning yet another win this week at the Canadian Open, Osaka has witnessed a massive jump in the WTA Live Rankings. The tennis mom has now clinched the 29th spot. What does it mean? Well, she may have a chance to get seeded (in top 32) before kicking off the US Open journey later this month. In the event that she wins the title in Montreal, she may seal her position within top 32 players. Having a seeded entry in New York will prevent her from having to face another seeded player before the third round.

And Osaka knows it very well. After entering the semis at the WTA 1000 event, 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.”

Osaka’s journey moving ahead won’t be easy in Montreal. Next up, she will face Clara Tauson. The latter is coming off her back-to-back wins over two slam queens of 2025. Firstly, she took down Wimbledon winner, Iga Swiatek, in the fourth round. And then on Tuesday night, Tauson easily moved past this season’s Australian Open champion, Madison Keys.

A slight concern for Osaka could be the fact that Tauson leads her 1-0 in the H2H stats. In their only meeting, which took place earlier this year, the Danish pro won the summit clash of the ASB Classic in Auckland. However, it wasn’t a duly earned triumph for Tauson. When she was leading in the first set, Osaka abruptly withdrew from the match due to her abdominal injury. And that’s how Tauson eventually hoisted the trophy.

What are your thoughts on the second face-off between these two? Will Naomi Osaka be able to avenge her ASB Classic exit this week and make it to the final in Montreal? Let us know as a comment below.