Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka was defeated by World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the Round of 16 in Madrid. The match lasted two hours and 20 minutes.
Osaka was flawless from baseless in the 7-6 first set. She dominated the tiebreak 7-1 as Sabalenka struggled with returns and net errors. Sabalenka won the second set following a 15-minute game early on that disrupted Osaka’s rhythm. When Osaka broke, Sabalenka replied with a break. The third set saw Sabalenka completely dominating Osaka, who even smashed her racket in frustration.
After seeing Osaka losing the game despite winning the first set, one fan believes the Japanese doesn’t have what it takes to win a Grand Slam.
“Not to twist the knife but this is why I don’t think Naomi will ever win a slam again. The killer instinct is gone,” one user said.
One fan noted Osaka’s lackluster performance against top ranked opponents on clay:
“Osaka remains winless against top 10 players on clay, now 0-7 against them.”
“Proud of Osaka, but she’s got to learn to get over this hurdle of being unable to keep her high level throughout the match. Whether it’s lack of focus, nerves, whatever it is,” another fan added.
“Her returning is just not good enough for this era of players unfortunately. Her serve and ground strokes are still elite enough to keep her around the top 15 is she’s healthy and plays a fullish schedule but winning a slam is just not likely at this point,” one fan commented.
“She’s literally playing best tennis ever since she came back. All she needs to do is committed. Day in Day out. Should have played charleston and stugart and get marching tough. How does she expect to be beat sabalenka without being match tough,” one fan added.
“I don’t think it’s killer instinct at all. It’s lack of depth in her game imo. She can still ball but you have to find a way to differentiate yourself against the elite players,” another reacted.
Aryna Sabalenka Praises Naomi Osaka After Intense Battle
Aryna Sabalenka is well aware of Naomi Osaka and what she can do once she is in her zone. Fans noted the glimpse of it in the first set, but the Japanese star could not sustain that level of tennis across three sets. After the game, Sabalenka called Osaka’s game-level “incredible” and found herself “lucky.”
“Oh my God. That was an incredible level. She played really incredible tennis. I feel like I just got lucky a couple shots in the third set. That’s why it went that fast. Overall it was a really incredible fight. I’m happy she brought the fight. I had to fight through. I had to level up my game. I’m happy with the performance,” Sabalenka said.
This was the third meeting between Osaka and Sabalenka. The former defeated the Belarusian at the 2018 US Open. However, Sabalenka has won twice this year, defeating Osaka in Indian Wells and Madrid.
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