Anisimova upsets defending champ Osaka
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA » Within an hour of her third-round loss at the Australian Open, defending champion Naomi Osaka had consigned it to the past.
It’s part of her new resolution for 2022. No dwelling on what’s already happened.
Osaka had two match points against 60th-ranked Amanda Anisimova in the third set Friday, and she missed two backhands.
Anisimova held serve to force a tiebreaker, which she dominated, and finished with an ace for a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5) comeback victory over the four-time major champion.
In doing so, the 20-year-old American ensured that the socalled final-before-the-final — a much-anticipated fourth-round showdown between Osaka and top-ranked Ash Barty — won’t happen.
“I’m not sure if I’m going to have regrets about those two match points,” Osaka said. “Like, I thought she played really well. But I can’t really look in the past anymore, you know?
“Like I just have to focus on what I can do in the future to hopefully evade those situations.”
Anisimova, who had lost her previous nine matches against top 20 players and had to rebound from a set and a break down to survive her first-round match, hit 46 winners to Osaka’s 21.
Osaka, one of the most powerful hitters in the women’s draw, praised Anisimova’s service returns and described how the ball kept coming back at her so low and fast that she couldn’t adjust her footwork to counter it.
“I just want to soak in this mo
ment,” said Anisimova, who took out Olympic champion Belinda Bencic in the second round. “It was an amazing match. It was very close. You know, there were a bit of nerves, and to play Naomi for the first time ... it’s unreal, honestly.”
Anisimova won her first WTA hardcourt title at a tuneup tournament in Melbourne this month and is now on an eight-match
winning streak — the longest of her career in main draw matches.
It’s the fourth time Osaka has been unable to defend a major title, and the 11th time in her 21 trips to Grand Slam events she has been knocked out in the third round, including last year’s U.S. Open.
After winning the title last year — her second at Melbourne Park in three years — Osaka withdrew from the French Open in the second round and skipped Wimbledon to take a break for her mental health. After her tearful exit 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. She also brought a new approach, vowing to enjoy the game more and never again cry in a news conference. She’s spent time meditating, keeping a journal of things she needs to be grateful for, and more time hanging out with family and friends.
“I can’t win every match. So I just have to, like, take that into account,” Osaka said. “I feel like I grew a lot in this match. The last match that I played in New York I think I had a completely different attitude, so I’m really happy with — you know, of course I lost, but I’m happy with how it went.”
Barty is hoping to become the first Australian woman to win the championship here since 1978.
She advanced to the fourth round with a 6-2, 6-3 win over 30th-seeded Camila Giorgi and has only conceded eight games and spent less than three hours on court.