PARIS, JUNE 02,
World No. 1 Naomi Osaka’s hopes of winning a third successive Grand Slam ended on Saturday when she was knocked out of Roland Garros in the third round by unheralded Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic.
Japanese top seed Osaka, the reigning US and Australian Open champion, crashed to a 6-4, 6-2 defeat to the 42nd-ranked Czech.
Osaka’s defeat left just four of the women’s top 10 seeds left in the tournament, including three-time winner Serena Williams and defending champion Simona Halep.
Serena’s bid to win a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam title was thwarted again when she was knocked out 6-2, 7-5 by US compatriot Sofia Kenin.
It was the 37-year-old’s earliest exit at the Slams since a third round loss to Alize Cornet at Wimbledon in 2014.
“There’s a lot of emotions now,” said Kenin, who wasn’t even born when Williams made her Paris debut in 1998.
Osaka was undone by a shocking 38 unforced errors as she finally ran out of luck in Paris having had to come back from a set down in her first two matches.
“It’s amazing, I can’t believe it, I am so happy now,” said Siniakova, who was the women’s doubles champion in Paris in 2018 alongside Barbora Krejcikova.
“I played my best tennis and I hope it continues.”
Osaka dropped the first set for the third successive match at the tournament, squandering seven break points in all.
Siniakova made her pay, breaking for 5-4 and taking the opener when Osaka sent back her 16th unforced error of the set. The Czech, who is the World’s No. 1 doubles player, kept up the pressure on the misfiring top seed, breaking for a 3-2 lead in the second set.
Siniakova backed it up with another break for 5-2 off Osaka’s third double fault of the match.
Victory was hers on Court Suzanne Lenglen when Osaka unleashed another misguided forehand.
The Czech goes on to face Madison Keys of the United States for a place in the quarterfinals in what will be her first appearance in the last 16 of the majors.
There were no such problems for men’s World No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who eased into the last 16, stepping up his bid to hold all four Grand Slam titles simultaneously for the second time.
The Serbian saw off unseeded Italian Salvatore Caruso 6-3, 6-3, 6-2.
Crowd favourite Tsitsipas became the first Greek player in 83 years to reach the second week at Roland Garros as he survived a scare against Filip Krajinovic. The sixth seed led by two sets when the match was suspended at 5-5 in the third due to darkness on Friday.
On the resumption Saturday, Tsitsipas lost the set in a tie-break but sealed a 7-5, 6-3, 6-7(5), 7-6(6) success on Court Philippe Chatrier.
The 20-year-old will take on former champion Stan Wawrinka for a place in his second Grand Slam quarterfinal.
