Barty Bounced Out Of Olympic Singles; Osaka Impresses In Return

There will be no gold in singles for Ash Barty this year at the Olympics. The 25-year-old who just won Wimbledon crashed out of the first round in Tokyo this morning falling to the feisty Spaniard Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-4, 6-3.

“It was incredible I don’t know what to say,” said Sorribes Tormo. “I still have goosebumps. It’s amazing.

“It’s the best victory in my career, for sure,” she said. “Because of the place, for who she is, because of what the Olympics means to me and because of playing for Spain.”

Barty, who was among the favorites for gold, sprayed 55 unforced errors in the 90-minute defeat to the the 24-year-old Sorribes Tormo who collected the biggest win of her career.

“I never really felt comfortable out there and wasn’t able to play the match on my terms,” Barty said in defeat. “The key to my game is serving well and I wasn’t able to do that today. I was a bit erratic and made too many errors.”

All eyes were on Naomi Osaka who returned to the sport after a near-2 month layoff and the Japanese No. 1 show no signs of rust cruising past Saisai Zheng 6-1, 6-4.

Osaka smacked 11 winners off her forehand side along with six aces to pace her first career Olympic win.

“I felt really nervous being in Japan, and playing here for the first time in maybe two years, and for it to be my first Olympics,” Osaka said. “It was definitely really nerve-wracking. But I am glad I was able to win.”

No. 3 seed Aryna Sabalenka rolled in her Olympic debut pounding Magda Linette 6-2, 6-1 in just 69 minutes. No. 4 Elina Svitolina outlasted Laura Siegemund in the heat 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 in a 3-hour, 6-minute struggle.

And the fifth-seeded Karolina Pliskova also was sharp easing past Alize Cornet 6-1, 6-3.

Petra Kvitova and Garbine Muguruza also advanced while Elise Mertens fell to Ekaterina Aleksandrova and Carla Saurez Navarro enjoyed her first win since her return upsetting Ons Jabeur.

Tomorrow, a full slate of second round women’s matches include Osaka returning along with Sabalenka, Krejcikova, Svitolina, Kvitova and Iga Swiatek.

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