Defending Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka was knocked out of the Australian Open on Friday (January 21) after she suffered a shocking defeat against unseeded Amanda Anisimova.
Osaka started the match on a positive not after she managed to win the first set but things started going against her from the second set and eventually the four-time Grand Slam champion was defeated 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (10-5).
The Japanese tennis player came back to the Grand Slam after suffering a third-round exit at the US Open last year.
Osaka's reaction
Osaka said on Friday that she is "not god" and “can't win every match” but she also said that she was “happy” with how the match went.
“I would definitely say I’m proud of myself for this,” Osaka told the reporters after her match on January 21.
“I’m not God! I can’t win every match. The last match that I played in New York I think I had a completely different attitude.
“Of course I lost, but I’m happy with how it went. I just want to go into this year knowing that I’ll play the whole year and I’ll just have the greatest attitude ever,” Osaka added.
The 24-year-old tennis player also said that she was “focused throughout the entire match.”
“This for me is the biggest step. Even though I lost. I was really focused throughout the entire match, and I didn’t have a dip. So that’s really good. Hopefully as the season continues, I’ll be able to keep this up, and get even better at it.
“I fought for every point. I can’t be sad about that,” Osaka said.
Sabalenka advances
On the other hand, second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka advanced to the fourth round of Australian Open women’s singles after defeating Czech tennis player Marketa Vondrousova 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.
14th-seeded Simona Halep also had an easy fixture as she advanced to the next round ousting Chinese tennis player Zhang Shuai 6-2, 6-2.
In the men’s singles, second-seeded Daniil Medbvedev qualified for the fourth round as he won his match 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 against Dutch opponent Boltic van de Zandschulp.
Fourth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas had to face some fight from French opponent Benoit Paire but the Greek player eventually managed to win the fixture 6-3, 7-5, 6 (2)- 7 (7), 6-4.
