- Naomi Osaka will regret some of the opportunities she missed to get back into the match
- The Japanese-born player had triple set point but let her opponent take it back.
Naomi Osaka’s return to Arthur Ashe Stadium could have been very different.
She appeared to have regained some of her confidence in her dominant tournament debut against Jelena Ostapenko, and she set herself up for success countless times against opponent Karolina Muchova on Wednesday.
But ultimately, this was a night defined by missed opportunities for Osaka, who missed last year’s tournament on maternity leave, as she lost in a heartbreaking 6-3, 7-6 (5) scoreline that saw her squander a triple set point and largely fail to capitalize on her crescendos of momentum and crowd support.
This was a match of sliding-door moments for Osaka, who also squandered a 4-2 lead in the second-set tiebreak and missed a break chance at 2-1 up in the first.
There was one player who kept her cool, and she wasn’t the one most fans paid to see.
Naomi Osaka missed several opportunities to come back into the match against Karolina Muchova
Muchova frustrated Osaka all night and didn’t lose her serve until late in the second set, before returning the favor immediately afterward.
There were glimpses of Osaka’s pedigree in this match, but that level ultimately wasn’t maintained long enough, and the lasting image of the night will be the easy forehand into the net that missed and lost the match.
Muchova, by contrast, seemed to step up her game as things got tenser and hit perhaps the shot of the night to set up her match point by firing a crosscourt forehand winner in the tiebreak.
The first breakthrough of the match came for Muchova in the seventh game, as she earned the first break of the night to take a 4-3 lead.
She may have been a faceless competitor to some fans, but the Czech player also gave them some moments to savour as a delicate winner left fans stunned in the aforementioned game.
But her game also had bite, as she won 5/5 net points in the first set and matched Osaka’s power in long rallies as the crowd favourite struggled to get her first serve in early action.
She earned another break at 5-3 to end the set after holding serve, while hitting a pair of forehand winners off Osaka to take control of the match.
Osaka’s fortunes looked to be starting to turn around when she was 1-0 down in the second set, when she recovered from a double break point to win the game at deuce.
Osaka was set to play a third set but could not close the door on Muchova
New York fans, who have seen her win this tournament twice, sensed she needed a boost and supported her as she won what was essentially a must-win match.
From then on, things continued to be just as difficult until she finally managed to break past the tenacious Muchova, taking a 5-4 lead.
But Osaka gifted her a break in the next game (at a 40-0 lead, no less) and, frankly, she collapsed at the most important moment of the match up to that point.
From there, it was Muchova who kept her composure in an eventual tiebreak, and that was really the theme of the match.