Sakkari denies Osaka a Miami Open semifinal berth and No. 1 ranking on Monday

It was not the best day for Naomi Osaka today but her opponent Sakkari played a really strong match, winning deservedly and moving on to the semifinals.

Naomi Osaka had a huge opportunity at this event of clinching the No.1 rankings on Monday if she won the event. Regrettably for her, she was bested today by a very strong Sakkari who demolished her 6-0 6-4 in 73 minutes of play. The start was particularly bad for Osaka who could not do anything right.

Not only did she got bageled in the opening set, she only won 8 points and one would have to look far back to find a match where one player dominated Osaka in that manner. The 2nd set opened much better for Osaka who was able to take a 3-0 lead. For a moment it seemed she would be able to pull it out despite playing far from her best tennis.

She maintained the lead till 4-1 but after that, she would once again get blown off the court by Sakkari who was very aggressive from the start. The Greek player would go on to win 5 games in a row clinching the 2nd set 6-4 and moving on to the semifinals. This win snapped a 23 match winning streak from Osaka who lost for the first time in 14 months.

With that loss, Osaka lost any chance of overtaking Barty after this event but she will nonetheless shorten the gap as the battle for the number spot tightens. For Sakkari this is a huge victory especially considering she had to save 6 match points against Pegula in the 4th round.