PARIS (AP) — Angelique Kerber eliminated Naomi Osaka 7-5, 6-3 in the first round of the Paris Olympics tennis competition on Saturday night in a matchup between former No. 1-ranked players who own multiple Grand Slam titles.
Kerber has said she will retire after competing for Germany at these Summer Games.
Osaka was hoping for a better showing than she had at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago in her native Japan. She was supposed to be one of the big stars and received the honor of lighting the cauldron at the opening ceremony.
But Osaka lost in the third round there and said she felt a real sense of pressure to perform well in front of her home fans. She was born in Japan to a Japanese mother and Haitian father, and the family moved to the United States when Osaka was 3.
