USA Today via Reuters
Mar 31, 2022; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Naomi Osaka (JPN) is overcome with emotion after her match against Belinda Bencic (SUI)(not pictured) in a women’s singles semifinal in the Miami Open at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
USA Today via Reuters
Mar 31, 2022; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Naomi Osaka (JPN) is overcome with emotion after her match against Belinda Bencic (SUI)(not pictured) in a women’s singles semifinal in the Miami Open at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
In what can be considered a continuation to the on-going series of upsets at the French Open, former world no.1 and four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka lost her first-round match to Amanda Anisimova yet again.
It was a battle of equals right from the start but Anisimova always found ways to get the better off Osaka. Adding to this was the fact that Osaka’s serve wasn’t firing today and she became vulnerable on her second serve.
via Reuters
Tennis – French Open – Roland Garros, Paris, France – May 23, 2022 Japan’s Naomi Osaka in action during her first round match against Amanda Anisimova of the U.S. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol
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An imperfect Naomi Osaka bows down once again to Amanda Anisimova at French Open 2022
However, both opponents managed to play high-quality tennis with powerful groundstrokes and took the first set to a nail-biting close. Serving to stay in the set at 5-6, an untimely double-fault sealed the deal for Anisimova as she clinched the first set, 7-5.
Even in the second set, the Japanese star didn’t look settled. Even though she managed to hit more winners, her serve continued to remain open to attack and Anisimova took care of this to perfection. With drizzles at court Suzanne Lenglen towards the end, the match was on Anismova’s racquet and she made no mistakes as she reached the second-round in an emphatic manner.
via Reuters
Tennis – French Open – Roland Garros, Paris, France – May 23, 2022 Amanda Anisimova of the U.S. celebrates winning her first round match against Japan’s Naomi Osaka REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol
A crucial metric that resulted in Osaka’s loss was her double faults. Throughout the match, the four-time Grand Slam champion made seven double faults, which was quite unlikely to her usual serving prowess and didn’t find any sort of rhythm on her serve against the American.
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7th double fault for Osaka and American Amanda Anisimova now up a set and a break on the former world No. 1
— Christopher Clarey 🇺🇸 🇫🇷 🇪🇸 (@christophclarey) May 23, 2022
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After a comfortable victory, Anisimova will now move on to the second round, where she meets Donna Vekic. Right from the start of the year, Anisimova has been enjoying a decent run at various tournaments and also defeated few top players.
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