Any opponent would have been put on notice by how impressive Naomi Osaka has been in the weeks leading up to the U.S. Open and her opening matches in Flushing.

It proved true again in her third-round match.

The two-time U.S. Open winner dominated the first set, losing only eight points and not dropping a game while only having six unforced errors to world No. 15 Daria Kasatkina’s 12, winning 6-0 in stunning fashion.

Naomi Osaka (JPN) reacts on the court as she plays Daria Kasatkina (AUS) in the third round in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Day 7 at the 2025 US Open Tennis Championship. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST

Coco Gauff will face Naomi Osaka next. Corey Sipkin

Osaka went on to win the match 6-0, 4-6, 6-3, but she did look more human in the following two sets as the Australian challenged her for the latter part of the nearly two-hour match.

Surely Coco Gauff, who is set to be Osaka’s fourth-round opponent, had her eyes on the Japanese star in Louis Armstrong on Saturday afternoon.

Still, the run is impressive for Osaka as it’s the first time she’s reached this fourth-round stage since returning to the sport at the beginning of the 2024 season after giving birth to her daughter, Shai.

“I think honestly since I’ve come back I kind of wanted everything to happen really quickly,” Osaka said in her post-match interview. “So I think it took, I keep saying like after Wimbledon, but for me to just completely not even think about results anymore and just try to focus on every match by itself. I did good in Montreal, and now we’re here. I’m just really happy about that. … As a journey, it’s not something that I really pictured, but I’m glad to be living it.”

It’s Osaka’s first fourth-round appearance at the Open since 2020 when she won the Grand Slam for the second time.

In the second set, Osaka made 13 of her 28 unforced errors and Kasatkina got up the early break, 4-1, to Osaka’s frustration.

She threw her hands on her hips after the forehand error and also started rushing between points to find her groove again.

Osaka put it all behind her in the final set, dusting off her miscues to get a 4-1 break to be two games away from the round of 16 on a forehand winner.

Naomi Osaka returns a ball to Daria Kasatkina (AUS) in the third round in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Day 7 at the 2025 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST

Fans are now set for a blockbuster between Osaka and Gauff, who leads the head-to-head matchup 3-2.

The last time the two met was at the China Open in October 2024 and Osaka was forced to retire after splitting two sets with Gauff due to a back injury.

They also previously met at the U.S. Open in 2019 when Osaka was the world No. 1 and Gauff was a 15-year-old upstart.

Osaka beat her in straight sets 6-3, 6-0.

“I thought she just handled herself really well, and I knew she was going to be back there,” Osaka said. “Now to be playing her again after six years, I don’t know if that makes me old, but yeah, just to be at this point of my life and to be playing her again is honestly, for me, feels kind of special.”