Defending champion Naomi Osaka has been knocked out of the Australian Open.
shot at world number one Ashleigh Barty in the fourth round. Melbourne: A
philosophical Naomi Osaka said Friday she “is not God” and cannot always win
“I knew I had to be playing sharp if I wanted to give myself a chance,” said
Anisimova, who took out Olympic champion Belinda Bencic in the second round and
then accounted for the 2021 Australian Open champion.
After losing the first set, Anisimova knew she needed to get more aggressive or she
would be out of the tournament. It worked.
Anisimova saved two match points in the third set, serving to stay in the match, and
ended it with an ace. She hit 46 winners to Osaka’s 21.
Osaka withdrew from the French Open in the second round and skipped Wimbledon
as she took a break for her mental health. After a third-round loss at the U.S. Open,
she took an extended layoff to reset and arrived at the year’s first major with a
seeding of No. 13.
Barty advanced with a 6-2, 6-3 win over 30th-seeded Camila Giorgi on Rod Laver
Arena, the match starting later and finishing earlier than the Osaka-Anisimova
contest on the adjoining Margaret Court Arena.
Barty has only conceded eight games and spent less than three hours on court in the
first three rounds at Melbourne Park. The Wimbledon champion and 2019 French
Open winner is aiming to be the first Australian woman to win her home
championship since 1978.
Two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka’s overpowered 15th-seeded
Elina Svitolina 6-0, 6-2 to reach the fourth round at Melbourne Park for the first time since 2016.
Before she had a chance to analyze both players she might meet next, a question was
posed to her son about the two-time Australian Open champion’s third-round
performance.
Five-year-old Leo, wearing his sunglasses in the news conference room and sitting on
his mother’s knee, responded succinctly: “Awesome!”
Azarenka thanked her son, then listed the positive points from her perspective.
Those included: “The amount of aggressivity I could bring point after point, applying
a lot of pressure, the consistency. Taking control of my end of the court.”
She will next play French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova, who rallied from a set
and a break down against 26th-seeded Jelena Ostapenko to win 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.
