Blink, and you missed it: Naomi Osaka needed just 49 minutes to equal the best WTA 1000-level result of her comeback from maternity leave so far.
The former world No. 1 surrendered just one game in defeating Anastasija Sevastova 6-1, 6-0 at the Omnium Banque Nationale in Montreal on Sunday to advance to her second career quarterfinal in Canada. Osaka's previous quarterfinal north of the border came in 2019, where she lost to Serena Williams, and since returning to tennis in 2023 following the 2022 birth of her daughter, had only previously been to the last eight at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open in Doha last winter.
Sevastova, a former world No. 11 who is down at No. 386 after maternity leave and a subsequent knee injury, offered little resistance to her path to match those efforts. Osaka broke serve five times in six return games, and never lost her serve to notch her 20th win of the year—already equaling her total from 2024.
"I had a solid plan coming in here, and it just happened to work out pretty well," Osaka said on-court after the match. She is now 4-0 under the tutelage of new coach Tomasz Wiktorowski, with whom she linked up after splitting with Patrick Mouratoglou officially last weekend.
Read more: Two-time defending champion Jessica Pegula upset by Anastasija Sevastova in Montreal