Melbourne – Defending champion Naomi Osaka was eliminated in the third round of the Australian Open after missing two match points.
The Japanese tennis player lost a hard-fought match against American Amanda Anisimova 6:4, 3:6, 6:7 (5:10) in Melbourne. The tiebreak in the third set is played to ten points in Melbourne. Osaka had failed to convert two match points at 5:4 in the third set.
“It was fun to play,” said the world number 14: “I fought for every point. I can’t be sad about it. I’m not God. I can’t win every match. “
Last year, Osaka had made depression public. She had withdrawn from the French Open and had passed up Wimbledon. She had been eliminated early at the Tokyo Olympics. After the US Open last September, the four-time Grand Slam tournament winner had then retired from tennis and taken an extended break.
“I feel like I grew a lot in this match. In the last match I played in New York, I think I had a completely different attitude,” Osaka said in Melbourne after losing to the 20-year-old world No. 60 Anisimova: “That’s why I’m happy with how it went.”
With her elimination from the first Grand Slam tournament of the season in Melbourne, Osaka now missed out on a delightful round of 16 clash against Australia’s Ashleigh Barty. The world number one defeated Italian Camila Giorgi 6-2, 6-3 and will now face Anisimova.
