Try as they might, Naomi Osaka and Ashleigh Barty just can’t seem to put a date in the diary. It has been more than two years since the pair last crossed rackets, and in the early months of last year there was much talk about whether Osaka, at the time the holder of two grand slam titles to Barty’s none, had the more rightful claim to the No 1 ranking.
That argument was quickly rendered redundant following Barty’s imperious return to the tour, which was closely followed by the mental health struggles that led Osaka to miss several months of the season, but a projected fourth-round meeting between the Australian Open title favourites was nonetheless eagerly anticipated.
Sometimes, however, plans change. Barty upheld her side of the deal by brushing aside Italy’s Camila Giorgi in straight sets. But Osaka, the defending champion, was dethroned 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (10-5) by the unseeded American Amanda Anisimova, who fought back from two match points down to deny the event’s beleaguered organisers the marquee weekend showdown they craved.
While the two-time champion’s disappointment was evident, she expressed pride about both her performance and the mental turnaround she has achieved since her tearful defeat to Leylah Fernandez at the US Open, following which she announced she would take an indefinite break from the game.
“I fought for every point and I can’t be sad about that,” said Osaka, whose appetite for the fray was as evident in her repeated fist pumps and self-exhortations as it was in her ferocious groundstrokes and serves.
“I’m not God. I can’t win every match. So I just have to take that into account and know that it would be nice to win the tournament, but that’s really special. I can’t think of myself trying to win the grand slam at the start of the year every time.
“For me, 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 – of course I lost, but I’m happy with how it went.”
Osaka, who marked her return to the sport with a semi-final run at the Melbourne Summer Set, said she would probably shun social media for a while. Yet she was full of praise for her young opponent – “I’m excited to see where her game takes her” – and had sufficient perspective to see the result not simply as a personal setback but also as a signpost for the future of the game.
“To me, it’s exciting,” said Osaka. “Not the loss itself, but the person I lost to, because it’s showing the growth of tennis. I feel like now I’m in this position where if I lose to someone, it might make a headline, but I also think it kind of grows more superstars, and I feel like that’s good for the game.”
Anisimova, who slowly reeled in Osaka with her low, bludgeoning groundstrokes, has form for an upset that predates her straight-sets win over Olympic champion Belinda Bencic in the previous round. Two and a half years ago, when she was just 17, the American stunned defending champion Simona Halep at Roland Garros to become the youngest semi-finalist in Paris for 13 years.
Just as her stock was rising, however, her world was split asunder by the sudden death of her father, Konstantin. It has been a long road back from that personal nadir but, after winning the second title of her career in Melbourne 12 days ago, she is once again posting the results of which she is capable.
“Last year was a huge struggle for me,” said Anisimova, 20, who is now ranked 60th after reaching a career high of 21st a little over two years ago. “I really wanted to be having these moments again.
“[Osaka] has a really big game, so I knew that I had to step it up and try to be as aggressive as I could. I don’t know if I did that so well today, because in most of the moments I feel like she was more aggressive. I think my serve is what really helped me today.”
In Barty, Anisimova will face familiar opposition. It was the Queenslander who eventually ended her breakthrough run at the French Open, where she stood within three games of the final at a set and 3-0 up. For Barty, who went on to win the match and the title, it was a pivotal victory.
“I learned a lot from that moment,” Barty recalled following her 6-2, 6-3 win over Giorgi. “That was a turning point in my career, and you have to be able to take learnings from those moments, as hard as they are sometimes.
“I was able to navigate and find a way through, which at that point in my life, in my career, was a massive turning point. It feels like it’s a lifetime ago, but some of those memories are still really vivid. Without a doubt we will take that and use that experience, use those feelings and those emotions as best we can come Sunday.”