AFP, Miami
Naomi Osaka’s 23-match winning streak came to a crashing halt Wednesday as Japan’s world number two was stunned 6-0, 6-4 by Maria Sakkari in the quarter-finals of the Miami Open.
Japan’s Osaka, playing her first tournament since lifting her fourth Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, won just eight points in the first set as she failed to muster a single winner.
Osaka broke in the second game of the second set and seized a 3-0 lead before Sakkari roared back to seal a semi-final spot in the prestigious ATP Masters and WTA hardcourt tournament.
The defeat ended Osaka’s chance of overtaking top-seeded Australian Ashleigh Barty atop the world rankings this week, a fact she acknowledged may have upped the pressure she was feeling against Greece’s 25th-ranked Sakkari.
“It’s hard to say,” she said of whether that made a difference in the match.
“The last time I was in this (press conference) seat, I wasn’t really thinking at all about rankings, but someone asked me that question, so then I did start to ponder about it a lot.
“So maybe unwillingly that put pressure on myself. But I feel like even if it did, I should be able to rise above that,” Osaka said.
Osaka hadn’t dropped a set at love since her last defeat, which came in February 2020 in a Fed Cup match.
