US Open tennis 2025: Gauff advances, Sinner and Osaka in action on day seven – live | US Open Tennis 2025
Key events
And look here, a break point for Shapovalov! He leads 2-1 and 30-40 on Sinner’s serve. Shapovalov smacks a forehand down the line and Sinner surrenders his serve for the first time this tournament.
Just nine minutes played and Osaka leads 3-0. It’s good to see the 2018 and 2020 champion playing with freedom again; she’s won eight of her past nine matches since linking up with Tomasz Wiktorowski, the former coach of Iga Swiatek, with the only blip being her Montreal final defeat by Victoria Mboko. Victory today would put her into the second week of a slam for the first time since the birth of her daughter in 2023.
It’s a love hold apiece for Sinner and Shapovalov. And a love hold for Osaka, before she’s handed the break when Kasatkina hits b2b double faults. Osaka leads 2-0.
In important news: Osaka’s purple crystal-covered day ensemble gets a second outing, after her orange night version in the first round. Kasatkina, the last remaining Australian woman in the singles after she switched allegiance from Russia this year, is also wearing purple, but she isn’t bedazzled.
Sinner and Shapovalov are warming up on Arthur Ashe, as are Naomi Osaka and Daria Kasatkina on Louis Armstrong. I’m looking forward to these two matches – though Sinner’s form in New York so far suggests Shapovalov could be swiftly dispatched. At best, I’d give the Canadian 27th seed one set. He does love the big stage though and is a flashy but inconsistent player (the exact opposite of Sinner you could say).
Muchova and Noskova are into a deciding set. Munar (now with the distinction of being the highest-ranked Mallorcan in men’s tennis) and Bergs (who definitely doesn’t have the distinction of being the most famous Zizou in sport) are just getting started. And France’s Diane Parry is 5-3 ahead against Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk, who blows so hot and cold but is the favourite in that match despite the scoreline.
Martina Navratilova and Laura Robson are giving Gauff a B+ for today’s performance. I’d go with that.
Gauff could face Osaka next. Yes please! Osaka will soon get under way against Daria Kasatkina.
“I thought today I played well,” she says. “Overall I’m really happy. It’s been an emotional week but I needed those tough moments to move forward. I had fun out there. I’m so privileged to walk on to this court and have your support.”
Gauff defeats Frech 6-3, 6-1
Which won’t be very long, because Gauff is ripping through the games now, leading 6-3, 5-1 and 0-30 on Frech’s serve. Make that 0-40, three match points. Gauff whacks long on the first. And Frech hits long on the second! That was a gutsy performance from Gauff after her woes the other night. She was crying in her post-match interview then; it’s good to see the smile’s now back. It’s going to be incredibly hard for her to win this tournament while remodelling that serve, but right now what matters is she’s into the last 16 for the fourth straight year.
Up next for Musetti: Spain’s Jaume Munar or Belgium’s Zizou Bergs. And it could be the most famous Italian of them all in the quarter-finals. And speaking of Sinner, he’ll be on after Gauff v Frech.
It’s the second time in two days a player has had to retire after diving for a shot on the hard courts, after Ben Shelton had to call it quits against Adrian Mannarino yesterday. Maybe someone should quietly remind the players this isn’t grass.
Cobolli retires against Musetti
Sighs on Louis Armstrong, and muted celebrations for Musetti, as Cobolli retires while trailing his great friend 6-3, 6-2, 2-0 because of that wrist injury. So Musetti is through to the fourth round for the first time – but he wouldn’t have wanted it to happen like this. “I didn’t want to finish like that, especially against Flavio. He’s my best friend on tour, we’ve known each other since we were nine years old. So a big round of applause for Flavio please. It’s a bittersweet match.”
On Thursday night Gauff was shaking at the changeovers as she battled against her own serve. Now, she’s skipping back to her chair after breaking Frech for a 6-3, 2-1 lead. She then comes out on top in an attritional rally for 30-all on her serve. She then turns in Carlos Alcaraz with a showreel worthy forehand slice winner! The crowd liked that. Frech then misfires and Gauff is in command at 6-3, 3-1.
Cobolli, by the way, has had the physio on three times for a wrist injury, which he suffered during the second set while diving for a volley. To make matters worse, he’s just been broken at the start of the third set too.
Musetti is serving for a two sets to love lead. It’s not going as smoothly as the rest of the match for the French Open semi-finalist, as Cobolli gets two chances to break. But here’s a set point for Musetti, as he chases down the drop shot … but he knifes a backhand slice into the tramlines. A second set point comes his way … and this time Cobolli clunks at his backhand. Musetti leads 6-3, 6-2 and is a set away from breaking new ground by reaching the last 16.
Gauff, her serving arm looking a little more relaxed, despite an aborted ball toss, brings up two set points at 40-15. A cross-court forehand battle ensues … and Frech finally prods long! Gauff, after surviving that mid-set wobble, secures the set 6-3. And one stat that few would have predicted before the match: she’s managed to land 79% of her first serves so far.
Game eight is turning into a real tussle between Gauff and Frech, and it has the feeling of perhaps being the decisive game of this first set. From deuce, Gauff has her third break point … and she takes it! Arthur Ashe – which is as full as I’ve ever seen it at this time of day – rises. The American will serve for the opening set at 5-3 up.
The tie-break sums up the first set for Muchova. Despite a commanding lead, the two-times semi-finalist just can’t shake off Noskova, who comes back from 4-2 down to snatch the breaker 7-5.
… just as Gauff’s shoulders visibly drop as Noskova wins her third game on the spin for 3-3. “There are 50,000 things going on in Gauff’s head,” says the always excellent Laura Robson. “She’s thinking about all the technical aspects. Even her backhand is suspect. It seems there’s no confidence in any area of her game apart from her movement, which she can always rely on.” I agree – she’s playing in her head, not her body, which is not surprising given she’s trying to remodel her serve mid-tournament. But it’s hard to watch. But Gauff does, at least, hold for 4-3.
Noskova has won four games on the spin and is serving for the first set. But the 20-year-old – nine years younger than her seasoned compatriot – blinks with three double faults. So they’re going to a tie-break. Muchova – of which there’s so much to like about her game, with her mix of spins and slice – leads 4-2 at the change of ends …
Frech holds for the first time to reduce her arrears to 3-1. On the Sky commentary, Martina Navratilova is asked about Gauff looking more comfortable today, and whether she preferred playing during the day vs at night during her US Open career. She says she never liked the night matches, because the floodlights weren’t so good and it affected her volleying, as she thinks it did for Bjorn Borg. And suddenly Gauff throws in a few errors, including a first double fault, and she hands the break back to Frech. So disappointing for the American after her assured start. She leads 3-2 but they’re back on serve.
Noskova has got the break back against Muchova and is serving at 5-4 down. I’m not too sure how she got there; my computer isn’t really playing ball and is only letting me watch two matches at once. So I’m dipping between that and Musetti v Cobolli. But Muchova did serve for the first set at 5-3.
Gauff, looking more relaxed than she did the other night against Vekic, skips from 0-15 to 0-30 to 0-40 on Frech’s serve. Three early break points. And she then drags Frech to one corner and then the other, before dispatching the forehand winner. That’ll shake off any nerves. Gauff’s got the break and leads 2-0.
Musetti has pressed the accelerator on Louis Armstrong. From 2-2, he now leads 5-2, and then flashes a forehand pass on his way to set point on Cobolli’s serve. Cobolli cooly finds a way to hold. But Musetti soon has three set points on his own serve, and he serves out the 6-3 set to love. He’s the first player with a set to his name on day seven.
Gauff, the 2023 champion, could also be helped today by the fact that Frech, the Polish 28th seed, doesn’t have any stand-out weapons. Even if Gauff’s serve is still misfiring, she should be able to swing freely in her return games. That said, Frech settles the second point of the match, a 28-shot rally, with a piercing winner. Gauff is already stumbling at 0-30 on serve. But Gauff, ever the competitor, even when her game isn’t totally clicking, hauls herself up and gets to 40-30. Make that game.
Gauff was in tears during and after her second-round win over Donna Vekic, such were her struggles on serve. Since winning the French Open in June she’s been plagued by serving problems and resorted to emergency action just before this tournament, splitting with her coach Matt Daly and hiring the biomechanist Gavin MacMillan, who previously helped Aryna Sabalenka overcome her service yips. But trying to remodel her serve under the public scrutiny of nearly 24,000 home fans on Arthur Ashe, has, understandably, been incredibly stressful for the 21-year-old. Perhaps playing in the day session today, rather than in the primetime night slot, will take off a little pressure. And Gauff gets a huge cheer of support as she arrives on court, even though the stands are nowhere near full.
Musetti and Cobolli are still going on serve at 2-2. And despite another double fault, Noskova gets herself on the board with a hold to 30, finishing things off with a forehand winner. She trails 3-1. Coco Gauff, meanwhile, is about to step on to Arthur Ashe, so we’ll be focusing on that match once it gets going.
And if you want to catch up on yesterday’s play, here are our reports:
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Cobolli, who reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals last month at his breakthrough grand slam, withstands the pressure from his higher-ranked opponent and holds. It’s 1-1. Muchova, who’s made the last four in New York for the past two years, breaks when Noskova double faults and then makes a hash of her smash. It’s 2-0.
It’s 11.21am in New York, the sun is shining and already under way are two internal conflicts, between the Italian friends Musetti and Cobolli and the Czech mates Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova. Musetti has taken the opening game on serve and is pushing for a break on Cobolli’s serve, while it’s a similar story for Muchova, who leads 1-0 and has just had a break point.
Preamble
Hello! And welcome to our coverage of the US Open day seven.
Such has been the dominance of Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz over the past two years, it’s almost possible to have sudden amnesia for all that the Big Three managed to achieve before the Big Two came along. Having carved up the past seven grand slam titles between them, they’re now seemingly hurtling towards a third consecutive major final against each other, yet to drop a set – and after Alcaraz’s latest breeze yesterday, it’s now Sinner’s turn to remind everyone that there are two kings of New York, as the defending champion takes on Canada’s Denis Shapovalov for a place in the last 16.
Sinner is second on Arthur Ashe in the day session, after Coco Gauff puts her shaky serve through another round of intense scrutiny, this time against Poland’s Magdalena Frech. On Louis Armstrong it’s an all-Italian affair between Lorenzo Musetti and Flavio Cobolli, before what could be another cracker, as Naomi Osaka and her countless crystals take on Daria Kasatkina. Elsewhere we’ve got Alex de Minaur, Andrey Rublev, the whitewashed Wimbledon finalist Amanda Anisimova, plus Venus Williams, 96, in the women’s doubles.
Play gets going: straight away. Don’t go anywhere!
