Seth Wenig/AP Photo
- Tennis star Naomi Osaka has been eliminated from her Olympics run by her Czech opponent.
- Osaka suffered a shocking upset to Marketa Vondrousova, ranked 42nd in the world, in 6-1, 6-4 sets.
- Osaka was thought to be a gold medal favorite going into the Tokyo Games.
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Top tennis star and Olympic gold medal favorite Naomi Osaka is out of the Tokyo Olympics after suffering a shocking loss on Tuesday.
Osaka, who is playing for Japan, suffered a shocking loss to Czech player Marketa Vondrousova in two 6-1, 6-4 sets on Tuesday, per Kyodo News.
This means she's out of the running for the gold medal in Tokyo.
-#TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) July 27, 2021
Osaka was thought to be Japan's Olympic favorite for the women's tennis singles event.
She was the athlete who carried the Olympic flame to light the cauldron during the Tokyo Games opening ceremony last Friday. She did not speak to the media after her loss.
According to the Washington Post, Osaka, who is the current world no. 2, struggled against the Czech player, who is ranked 42nd internationally.
NBC reported that Osaka appeared nervous when she started off the match at the Ariake Tennis Park. She lost the first set to Vondrousova within 24 minutes, after some shaky rallies.
Osaka did better during the top of the second set, pulling ahead of her Czech rival by two games. But Vondrousova fought back and overtook Osaka, breaking her serve on the last point to clinch the win.
This was the third match that Osaka played at the Tokyo Games. She beat Swiss player Viktorija Golubic in straight 6-3, 6-2 sets on July 26.
And on July 25, she beat China's Zheng Saisai cleanly in 6-1, 6-4 sets in her first-round match at the Olympics.
Osaka's opening Tokyo Games match was her first time back on the court after taking a break from official games for two months. She withdrew from the French Open on June 1 after she was fined $15,000 for not attending a post-match press conference.