Osaka relinquishes title after disappointing farewell to Australian Open

Japan's Naomi Osaka ceded the Australian Open title, the first of the four Grand Slams, by losing in the third round to American Amanda Anisimova 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (5-10) today.

Everyone was hoping for a confrontation between Osaka and local champion Ashleigh Barty, the world number one, who won Friday against Italian Camila Georgi 6-2 6-3, but Anisimova, the 20-year-old and ranked 60th in the world, achieved a resounding surprise by eliminating the Japanese.

After a turbulent season in 2021 and a period of seclusion due to her mental state, which led to her regression in the women's rankings to 13th place, Osaka (24 years) was hoping to go in Melbourne to the end and win the Australian Championship for the third time in her career and raise the number of her major titles to five ( She won the Flushing Meadows Championship twice), but the dream ended Friday at the hands of Anisimova, who reached the fourth round for the second time in her third participation in Australia after 2019.

The American settled the meeting in two hours and 15 minutes, to set up a date in the next round with Barty, who continued her dream of becoming the first Australian to win the title since Chris O'Neill in 1978, with an easy victory over Georgie in a meeting that lasted only an hour and a minute.

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