Naomi Osaka is through to the semifinals at the 2026 Mubadala DC Open, but it took everything she had. On Friday, July 31, the Japanese third seed survived a three-set scare from Italy’s Elisabetta Cocciaretto, rallying for a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory after two hours and 11 minutes of tense, ragged tennis.
It wasn’t pretty. Osaka’s serve misfired all afternoon, and her frustration boiled over when she uncharacteristically hurled her racket to the court, then kicked it away. She admitted later that something felt flat from the start. “In the first set, I had low energy,” she said. “I kept trying to pump myself up, but something was a little flat.”
Cocciaretto came into the match having earned her spot with wins over Clara Tauson and Emma Navarro. She broke Osaka in the opening game, lost the break back, then broke again to take the first set 6-4. The Italian’s aggressive returns kept the four-time Grand Slam champion on the defensive.
Osaka responded in the second set, though her level wobbled. She broke early, but gave it back. Still, she found a way to close it out 6-4, and then in the decider she finally settled into a rhythm. The winner of the WTA 500 event is not yet known, but Osaka will not be forgiven easily.
She spoke openly about her struggles. “I feel, from my end, it was just a really rough match,” Osaka said during her on-court interview. “I think my service percentage was probably really bad. But I feel I just wanted to fight and wanted to compete as hard as I could.”
This marks Osaka’s second semifinal of the season, after her runner-up finish at the Bad Homburg Open. She had opened her DC Open campaign with a second-round match against Ashlyn Krueger, but that one ended abruptly when Krueger retired while trailing 6-3, 3-1. Osaka later expressed concern for her opponent and said she was disappointed by the quick finish, noting she wanted match time ahead of the US Open.
She certainly got match time on Friday. The battle tested her patience and her shot-making, but it also gave her the kind of competitive grind she said she needed. Osaka now awaits the winner of the semifinal matchup between Elina Svitolina and Alexandra Eala for a place in the final.