Naomi Osaka extends losing streak as she crashes out in 1st round of Cincinnati Masters
WTA
After losing in San Jose to Coco Gauff and retiring against Kaia Kanepi in Toronto, Naomi Osaka played against Shuai Zhang in the first round of the 2022 Cincinnati Masters and lost.
Previously, the former WTA World No. 1 player triumphed in three out of the five matches she played against Shuai Zhang. Although Osaka won more matches, her Chinese opponent also showed that she can play well against her.
In their first-round meeting at the 2022 Cincinnati Masters, the four-time Grand Slam champion hoped to improve her H2H record against Zhang, but her opponent proved to be too good once again.
Zhang started well in the match as she broke her opponent's serve in the first game. That was despite Osak leading 40-30 and then having one more game point, before eventually facing a break point and losing the opening game of the match.
Also Osaka managed to get a break point in the first set, that was when she was down 2-3. However, her opponent didn't fold under pressure. Zhang held her serve for the remainder of the set without facing any issues after that, so she won the set 6-4 in 34 minutes.
In the second set, Zhang was the first player to break again. The Chinese played broke to lead 2-1, and she extended her lead all the way to 5-3. At 5-4, Zhang was serving to win the match. However, Osaka managed to break back in the tenth game and gave herself one more chance to win the match.
Yet, Zhang added another break of serve in the following game, and on the second try, the Chinese player was able to serve out the match and win it 6-4, 7-5 in an hour and 15 minutes. She set up a second-round clash with Ekaterina Alexandrova.
