It was always asking a lot. After taking 56 days away from tennis to protect her mental health, Naomi Osaka’s face adorned Tokyo’s billboards and bus stops. Chosen to light the Olympic cauldron, she was ushered before the global gaze before she had even hit a ball. It was, she said, the greatest honour she would ever receive. As her key rivals faltered, the opportunity of a lifetime beckoned: a gold medal on home soil. Osaka was installed as the tournament favourite, carrying the hopes of the home nation lightly as she breezed through her opening two matches. But it all proved too much.
On a day when the inspiration that has carried her to four of the last six majors contested on hard courts simply would not come, Osaka, the second seed, slumped to a 6-1, 6-4 defeat against Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic, the latest major casualty in an event of seismic shocks. With Ashleigh Barty and Aryna Sabalenka also out, fourth seed Elina Svitolina is the highest-ranked player left standing.
Had the pressure told? “I mean, yes and no,” said Osaka, who initially avoided reporters before returning to face questions. “I feel like I should be used to it by now. But at the same time, I think the scale of everything is a bit higher because of the break that I took. I am glad I didn’t lose in the first round, at least.”
Osaka, who pulled out of the French Open on mental health grounds after refusing to take part in press conferences, and also missed Wimbledon, added: “I’ve taken long breaks before and I’ve managed to do well. I’m not saying that I did bad right now, but I do know that my expectations were a lot higher. I feel like my attitude wasn’t that great because I don’t really know how to cope with that pressure, so that’s the best that I could have done in this situation.”
Having used a protected ranking to qualify for the Olympics, controversially edging out her higher-ranked compatriot Karolina Muchova, Vondrousova made the most of her opportunity, denying her opponent rhythm from the back of the court with a combination of sliced backhands and deft drop shots. She capitalised on a poor start by Osaka, who dropped her opening service game and quickly fell 4-0 behind, and swiftly recovered after conceding a break early in the second set.
When Osaka rifled a forehand winner to save the first of two match points, an unlikely comeback began to look possible. But an unforced error, one of 32 made by Osaka in all, brought up a third match point for the Czech. Some fine retrieving by Vondrousova carried her over the line.
“I wasn’t playing under pressure, but of course the second set was tight, so I was a bit under pressure then, those two match points and then deuce,” said Vondrousova, who will face Spain’s Paula Badosa for a place in the semi-finals. “I’m just very happy with my game today. The first set was amazing. I hope I’ll keep going.
“I needed to change the rhythm because from the back she is amazing both sides, so I knew I had to play slice and drop shots, my lefty serve; that was my plan today. The end was very tight, it could have gone both ways, so I’m just happy to be through.”
With the US and Australian Open champion joining Wimbledon winner Barty on the sidelines, Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic made it a grand slam of upsets with a 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Barbora Krejcikova, the French Open champion. Bencic will play Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the beaten finalist at Roland Garros, after the 13th seed beat Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-1, 6-3.
While Pavlyuchenkova has dropped just seven games en route to the quarter-finals, Svitolina was extended to a final set for the third round in succession. The Ukrainian finally subdued Maria Sakkari of Greece 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 to book a last-eight meeting with Camila Giorgi of Italy, who beat Wimbledon finalist Karolina Pliskova 6-4, 6-2.
Garbiñe Muguruza, the seventh seed, beat Alison van Uytvanck 6-4, 6-1 and will now meet Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina, who defeated Donna Vekic of Croatia, conqueror of Sabalenka in the previous round, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4.
In the men’s draw, Britain’s Liam Broady produced the shock of the day with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz, the seventh seed and Wimbledon semi-finalist.
“It’s obviously a career-best and a career high moment,” said Broady, the world No 143, who was called up to the British team at the eleventh hour after Dan Evans withdrew with coronavirus. “To come in and represent Team GB at the Olympics, it can’t have gone any better. I’ve started to put a few results together and started to build quite stable foundations within my tennis, and off the court. That’s starting to pay off this year. It’s nice to get this result to show I’m doing something right.”
Broady will face Jeremy Chardy next after the Frenchman beat Aslan Karatsev 7-5, 4-6, 6-3. Stefanos Tsitsipas, the third seed, defeated Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 6-4 to gain a measure of revenge for his first-round exit to the American at Wimbledon.