Simon Dalton presents his prediction for the WTA US Open match.
Naomi Osaka
Naomi Osaka arrives in outstanding form: 9 wins in her last 10 matches, including successes over Elina Svitolina, Jelena Ostapenko and Daria Kasatkina. Only in the Montreal final did the Japanese come up short against Victoria Mboko. In New York Naomi looks fresh and assured, having fired 20 aces and on average won over 70% of points behind her first serve. In the previous round she won a 6:0 set against Daria Kasatkina and prevailed by a seven-game margin. Against Coco Gauff the head-to-head is level at 2-2, and on another occasion Osaka retired in Beijing after taking one set off the American.
Coco Gauff
Coco Gauff has not been as convincing. The American has lost her last three hard-court matches against top-25 opposition and she often encounters difficulties even in matches she wins. At this US Open Coco has convincingly beaten only Magdalena Fręch, whereas she has had serious problems against Ajla Tomljanović and Donna Vekić. Gauff went to a tie-break twice and across three matches has dropped 28 games.
Naomi Osaka vs Coco Gauff Prediction
Right now Osaka looks the more assured player, and her hard-court game is noticeably more powerful and more varied. Given the current landscape on tour, Coco is widely viewed as the favourite, but the Japanese will push the American hard.
