By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
World No. 2 ranked Naomi Osaka is now out of the Tokyo Olympics.
One of the biggest superstars of the host country’s delegation was just ousted from the women’s tennis singles category by Marketa Vondrousa of Czech Republic in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4 in the third round.
Vondrousa, the world’s no. 42-ranked player in the world, found her groove early in the first set and was at her A-game against Japan’s pride.
The 22-year-old Czech showed off her baseline power which was just too much for Osaka to handle for 35 minutes.
Osaka’s unforced errors also caused her to give free points to Vondrousa. The Japanese tennis superstar’s costly errors at the end of their long baseline rallies proved to be a huge game-changer.
Vondrousa cashed in 18 total winners off Osaka’s 10 unforced errors and also locked in five breakpoints out of the 11.
With the victory, the young Czech tennis stalwart will either face Spain’s Paula Badosa or Argentina’s Nadia Podoroska.