Naomi Osaka had a fantastic start to 2021 with the Australian Open 2021 triumph. Fast forward to Miami Open 2021, she slumped to one of the heaviest defeat of her career. She was bagel’d in the first set by Maria Sakkari in a disappointing loss.

In a recent interview, renowned sports journalist Steve Flink gave his overview on the loss. He termed it as a ‘disaster’ and said Osaka handed Sakkari the match.

“I first said she was a disaster she just looked like she wasn’t didn’t really really feel like playing. She tried, but she didn’t have anything. She was just missing a lot of easy shots, she served badly and then Sakkari really got very aggressive on the second serve return she wouldn’t let Osaka get away with any medium pace kick serve and she demolished the return so Sakkari played well.”

Maria Sakkari admitted she didn’t play her best match against Naomi Osaka

The first set saw Osaka bagel’d by Sakkari, but a comeback was on in the second set. The Japanese ace, at one point, was 4-1 up in the second set, but she slumped again and lost five games in a row, effectively giving the match to Sakkari.

“But then second set Osaka was up 4-1. She should have won in the second set and then never won another game, so she had a pretty bad day at the office. Sakkari played well, but even Sakkari said afterwards she didn’t think it was necessarily the best she’s ever played, so that was an admission that she got some help from Naomi.”

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Osaka’s loss was uncanny as she was on a 24 match win streak prior to it. There were multiple motivating factors for Osaka to do well in that match. She had a shot at one of the premier tournaments on the WTA Tour, but most importantly, she also had a chance to topple Ash Barty as the World No.1.

The loss will hurt Osaka a little, given its proximity to the clay-court season. But for now, it is a small blip and she should recover from it quickly.

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