Teen Coco Gauff Stuns Defending Champ Naomi Osaka; Serena Williams Beaten in Third Round of Australian Open
(January 24, 2020) Friday saw the biggest day of upsets at the Australian Open in Melbourne Park.
Defending champion and third Naomi Osaka lost to 15-year-old Coco Gauff 6-3, 6-4 in third round. Back in the fall, Osaka gave up only three games in dominating the Florida teen in the third round of the US Open.
“I learned a lot from that US Open,” said Gauff after the win. “Not even just playing against Naomi, but the whole tournament. I think I was on edge, and I had the three-setters in the first two rounds, and I was just dealing with all of the media.”
“Today I definitely showed that I worked on that in the off-season.”
“It was one of those days where I couldn’t do anything right,” Osaka said.
Just two matches earlier in Rod Laver Arena, 23-time major champion Serena Williams, lost her bid to add on to her major title count when she fell to No. 27 seed Wang Qiang 6-4, 6-7(2), 7-5. Williams dropped only one game to the Chinese player when they met at last year’s US Open.
“Honestly, if we were just honest with ourselves, it’s all on my shoulders,” Williams said in her news conference. “I lost that match. So it is what it is.
“I can’t play like that. Like, I literally can’t do that again. That’s unprofessional. It’s not cool.”
“I just made far too many errors to be a professional athlete today.”
Caroline Wozniacki’s career ended on Friday. The 2018 champion lost her third round match 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 to Ons Jabeur in Melbourne Arena. The Dane aid last year that the Australian Open would be her final tournament.
There were a few surprises in the men’s draw on Friday. No. 6 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas lost to No. 32 Milos Raonic 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (2). 2014 US Open winner, unseeeded Marin Cilic stopped No. 9 seed Roberto Bautista Agut 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-0, 5-7, 6-3.
More to follow….
