Olympia: Naomi Osaka sovereign, Ashleigh Barty surprisingly already out
Superstar Naomi Osaka reached the second round with a great performance at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Ashleigh Barty, number 1 in the world, has left.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Jul 25, 2021, 07:47 am
The return of Naomi Osaka to the tennis court was eagerly awaited - and Osaka was convincing: 6: 1, 6: 4 she won against Saisai Zheng after 1 hour and 27 minutes of play.
Osaka quickly took a 5-0 lead, in the second half she also made an early break and had to fend off a break ball again at 4: 3 - which she did with a strong forehand. At all, Zheng couldn't keep up with the power of Osaka, with a total of 25 winners. Above all, however, Zheng missed too many break chances: She had six options in the entire match, but she didn't use any.
For Osaka it was the first appearance on a match court since her first round win at the French Open, she did not start for the second round due to her controversial cancellation of the press conference in Paris. Osaka then made it public that she was suffering from depression, and Wimbledon was also canceled afterwards.
In Tokyo, the four-time Grand Slam tournament winner is the superstar, and Osaka was even given the honor of lighting the Olympic flame at the opening ceremony.
Wimbledon winner Ashleigh Barty has already been eliminated from the Olympic tennis tournament. The Australian lost 3: 6, 4: 6 to the Spaniard Sara Sorribes Tormo in her first Olympic Games. Barty fended off two match points, but in the end she still had to accept a surprising loss - after her strong performance at Wimbledon, where she won her second Grand Slam tournament two weeks ago.