With her shy laugh, Naomi Osaka greeted everyone on Center Court at Flushing Meadows. It had been many years since the Japanese player had been seen playing the way she is at this US Open. On Monday night, she surprisingly defeated Coco Gauff, a two-time champion of the tournament in recent years, in straight sets (6-3, 6-2). And she qualified for the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in 1,658 days. 1,658 days. More than four years. The last time she had done so, the world was still talking about the pandemic and Donald Trump was fighting in the courts, far from his return to the White House.