Naomi Osaka vs. Elina Svitolina: Where to Watch, WTA Montreal Preview

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Estimated start time: 7:10 p.m. ET, Tuesday, August 5

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Naomi Osaka vs. Elina Svitolina: Match Preview

Has Osaka turned the corner at last? That may be the question of the tournament right now. In the second round, she was solidly out-played for two sets by Liudmila Samsonova—right up until the moment the Russian had two match points. Osaka survived those, and survived the third set. After that, she played with increasing confidence in convincing wins over Jelena Ostapenko and Anastasija Sevastova. By the time she blitzed Sevastova 1 and 0, she looked as much like her old Top 10 self as she has this season. Now she’s into her first WTA-level quarterfinal since January.

Osaka says that a difficult loss to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova at Wimbledon “made me restructure my mind a little bit.” She switched coaches, from Patrick Mouratoglou to Tomasz Witkorowski. She says she likes the latter’s “direct and to the point” coaching style, though she’s not sure how to pronounce his first name yet. Goal-wise, big dreams seem to be out, smaller ones in.

“Of course I would want to win Slams, of course I would want to be in the Top 10,” Osaka says. “But I think I need to pace myself and go for the mini goals, and they’ll eventually turn into the big goals.”

“I think being in the quarterfinals here is a step to hopefully getting to the semis and the finals, so I’ll try to treat it more like that.”

This is probably a solid plan, because we’ve seen Osaka threaten to return to form many times over the past two years, only to lose a tight match, walk away disappointed, and have to start all over again the next week.

Is a tight match with Svitolina in store on Tuesday? The head-to-head record—4-3 in Osaka’s favor—would suggest the answer is yes. But only one of those matches was played after 2019. At 30, Svitolina might seem to be on the career downswing, but she has had a quietly strong season, making the quarters at the Australian Open and Roland Garros, and going 35-11 overall. She’s ranked No. 13 now, not as high as in the past, but still 36 spots ahead of Osaka. Svitolina also looked very good in a surprisingly one-sided win over Amanda Anisimova on Sunday.

This is a tough call. Both women seem to be in form, and determined. Svitolina is ranked higher and is the better player on a week-by-week basis in 2025. But Osaka is the better server and harder hitter, and has the higher ceiling. I’ll say she’ll keep turning the corner this time. Winner: Osaka