Tearful Osaka stunned by Pliskova

Tiger Woods celebrates winning the Tour Championship in Atlanta, USA on September 23, 2018.

Tearful US Open champion Naomi Osaka blamed tiredness after a surprise defeat in straight sets by Karolina Pliskova in the Pan Pacific Open final. Japan’s Osaka was hoping to give home fans a victory to celebrate in Tokyo but went down 6-4 6-4 to the Czech.

“I’ve literally never felt more tired in my entire life,” said the 20-yearold, who plans to take some time off.

Former world number one Pliskova, the fourth seed, ended Osaka’s 10-match winning streak in just 63 minutes.

“Naomi was maybe a little bit tired, you could see that. But the future is bright for her and congrats to her for an incredible few weeks,” said Pliskova.

Third seed Osaka’s defeat came a fortnight after she won the US Open final, which was overshadowed by beaten opponent Serena Williams’ outburst at an umpire. Osaka could not recover after being broken by the world number eight in the fifth game of the first set and, as the strain began to show, she called for coach Sascha Bajin and groaned:

“I feel so stressed out.”

She could barely bring herself to speak at the trophy presentation.

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Photo: USA Today

replacement for Tuilagi. Ahead of the Quilter Internationals in November an England squad will be named on October 18 before they fly to Portugal on October 24 to begin their final preparations for the four-Test series. England will play South Africa (November 3), New Zealand (November 10), Japan (November 17) and Australia (November 24) at Twickenham Stadium. Squad- Forwards: Tom Curry (Sale Sharks), Jamie George (Saracens), Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints), Nathan Hughes (Wasps), Nick Isiekwe (Saracens), Maro Itoje (Saracens), George Kruis (Saracens), Joe Launchbury (Wasps), Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints), Zach Mercer (Bath Rugby), Ben Moon (Exeter Chiefs), Michael Rhodes (Saracens), Chris Robshaw (Harlequins), Brad Shields (Wasps), Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins), Billy Vunipola (Saracens), Mako Vunipola (Saracens), Harry Williams (Exeter Chiefs), Mark Wilson (Newcastle Falcons); Backs: Chris Ashton (Sale Sharks), Mike Brown (Harlequins), Danny Care (Harlequins),