Home Favourite Naomi Osaka Knocked Out Of Tokyo Olympics

World Number 2 ranked Naomi Osaka was knocked out in the third round of the tennis tournament at the Tokyo Olympics

Tokyo Olympics: Naomi Osaka knocked out of third round.

(Photo Source: PTI)

Naomi Osaka, the Japanese home favourite, had been knocked out of the Tokyo Olympics in the third round. She lost 6-1, 6-4 to former French Open finalist Marketa Vondrousova from the Czech Republic.

The world No.2 ranked Osaka seemed to struggle against Vondrousova as she hit a series of crafty shots which drew Osaka out of her comfort zone.

Oskaka won her first two matches at the Tokyo Olympics following a two month mental health break and the Japanese star struggled with consistency due to the different conditions as the roof of the stadium was closed due to rain, and had no response to Vondrousova eventually loosing the match 6-1, 6-4.

Marketa Vondrousova will now go up against Nadia Podoroska from Argentina or Spain's Paula Badosa

With Naomi's exit, the top three players on the WTA singles rankings at the Olympics have all bowed out of the quadrennial showpiece.

While Australia's world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty had lost to Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain in the opening match, No. 3 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus fell to Croatia's Donna Vekic in the second round on Monday, and now world No. 2 Naomi has lost in the third round.

With No. 4 Sofia Kenin of the US and No. 5 Bianca Andreescu of Canada not competing here, No. 6-ranked Elina Svitolina of Ukraine is now the highest-ranked player left in the draw.

Marketa took a 4-0 lead with a double break and finished the opening set in 24 minutes. But Naomi looked like she was warming up for the second set when she broke in the first game of the second set and then held for a 2-0 lead. But Marketa broke back for 2-all and broke the Japanese one more time in the last game of the match to snuff out Naomi's challenge.

The Czech player finished the match with just 10 unforced errors to Naomi's 32.

(With inputs from IANS)