“I’m not mad at this:” Naomi Osaka loses world No. 1 rank to Aussie star
<p>New York title winner Naomi Osaka has crashed out of the US Open with a stunning defeat to Belinda Bencic. </p>
<p>The 21-year-old lost for the third time to Bencic in one hour and 26 minutes under the closrd roof at Arthur Ashe Stadium on a rainy Monday. </p>
<p>"The challenge cannot be bigger playing Naomi," Bencic said. "She has a lot of power, me not so much. I play like chess and anticipate."</p>
<p>Osaka broke to love in the fifth game of the second set on a double fault from the Japense. </p>
<p>The Title holder’s defeat has slipped her to fourth in the rankings, according to the WTA with French Open champion Ash Barty returning to the top of the ladder ahead of Karolina Pliskova and Simona Halep despite all being out already in New York. </p>
<p>Osaka’s elimination paints an interesting picture with the top seeds being out of the quarter-finals for the first time in Open era. </p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr">Big results fo Belinda Bencic, 22, and Donna Vekic,23. Two teenage prodigies - Bencic made QF here as a 17yo was Top 10 at 18, Vekic was Top 100 at 16yo - who have had to fight through a lot to get to this stage. Both in the midst of standout seasons. Both good friends. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/USOpen?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#USOpen</a> <a href="https://t.co/Mc4C0SnkWO">pic.twitter.com/Mc4C0SnkWO</a></p>
— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) <a href="https://twitter.com/WTA_insider/status/1168586115919556609?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 2, 2019</a></blockquote>
<p>The former No. 1 told reporters the loss stung a lot less than her first-week exits at Roland Garros and Wimbledon over the summer. </p>
<p>"Right now I have this feeling of sadness, but I also feel like I have learned so much during this tournament," Osaka said. </p>
<p>"Honestly, of course I wanted to defend this tournament.</p>
<p>"I feel like the steps that I have taken as a person have been much greater than I would imagine at this point. </p>
<p>"So I hope that I can keep growing. I know that if I keep working hard, then of course I'll have better results."</p>
<p>"I mean, in Wimbledon I walked out on you guys," Osaka teareully explained, referring to a tearful end to her press conference after losing in the firsts round to Yulia Putintseva. </p>
<p>"In Roland Garros, I came straight from the match, so I was all gross and I just wanted to get out of there.</p>
<p>In true Osaka fashion, the 21-year-old has maintained her composure and hoped to bounce back in future games. </p>
<p>"Honestly, I'm not that mad at this," Osaka said. "Of course I can look at this and be very disappointed and mad, but I'm not mad at it. Of course I would like to reach higher, like rounds. That's definitely what I'll aim for in Australia.</p>
<p>"But for right now, I think the level of tennis that I was playing in Europe was not that great. Coming here: two quarterfinals, Round of 16. </p>
<p>"Hopefully I'll do well in Japan because I always do well in Japan, and just keep building off of it to end the season."</p>
