After last year’s finalist Karolina Pliskova survived her sluggish start to the tournament earlier on Tuesday, defending champion and former world No.1 Angelique Kerber got dismantled by world No.45 Naomi Osaka in the first round of the US Open, 6-3 6-1 in just 65 minutes.
The 19-year-old Osaka never trailed during her encounter with the sixth-ranked Kerber and recorded her first career victory over a Top 10 player. Calm and collected, yet aggressive, Osaka never dropped serve during the match and was better than Kerber in all aspects of the game, including a much better winners-to-unforced errors differential, +5 compared to Kerber’s -14.