OSAKA OUSTED
Leylah, Carlos stars as Tsitsipas too is toppled at US Open
New York, Sept. 4: Defending champion Naomi Osaka of Japan and Greek third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas were both ousted from the US Open by 18-year-olds in epic stunners on Friday at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka was shocked by Canadian left-hander Leylah Fernandez 5-7, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 after Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz upset French Open runner-up Tsitsipas
6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 0-6, 7-6 (7/5). “Honestly the Alcaraz match gave me motivation and gave me the energy to do the same,” Fernandez said, adding, “I saw his match and I saw the way he won and I’m like ‘I’m going to do that next now.’”
Shock followed shock as defending champion Osaka, in a tearful news conference after the loss, announced she was taking a break from playing tennis.
“I honestly don’t know when I’m going to play my next tennis match. I think I’m going to take a break from playing for a while,” Osaka said, wiping away tears.
Osaka, who had won her prior
16 Grand Slam matches, was foiled in a bid for her third US Open crown in four years and the first back-to-back titles since Serena Williams in 2014.
Alcaraz is the youngest man in the US Open fourth round since
17-year-old American Michael Chang in 1989 and at any Slam since Ukraine’s Andrei Medvedev in the 1992 French Open.
“Incredible. Incredible feeling for me. This victory means a lot to me. It’s the best match of my career, the best win. To beat Stefanos Tsitsipas is a dream come true and to win here is even more special for me,” Alcaraz said.
Osaka had a major meltdown on court during the final moments of the second set after she was unable to hold serve for the victory.
Osaka, who hadn’t played since Monday thanks to a second-round walkover, took the first set in 37 minutes on her sixth ace. But Osaka was broken in the 12th game of the second set, an errant forehand sending her to a tiebreaker. That began a sequence of repeated racquet smashing by Osaka as she was humbled in the tie-break to force a third set.
Fernandez, the daughter of an Ecuadoran father and FilipinoCanadian mother who turns 19 on Monday, hit a forehand winner to
break Osaka to start the third set.
Osaka saved two break points to hold in the third game and from there both held to the finish, which came after two hours and four minutes, sending Fernandez against German 16th seed Angelique Kerber in her first Grand Slam fourth round appearance.
Fernandez, who won her first WTA title in March at Monterrey,
had never beaten so high-ranked a rival as third-rated Osaka and the same was true for Alcaraz when he sent home the men’s world number three.
Alcaraz became the youngest man to beat a top-3 player at the US Open since the rankings began in 1973. World number 55 Alcaraz next faces 141st-ranked German qualifier Peter Gojowczyk. —