Osaka leaves WTA Finals debut with losses and lessons

Oct 26, 2018
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Osaka leaves WTA Finals debut with losses and lessons

Published Oct 26, 2018

Noami Osaka arrived in Singapore for her debut hoping to finish her stellar 2018 season with an exclamation point. She had a fair shot of winning the whole thing, given her US Open title and her strong results all fall season.

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Instead, the 21-year-old dropped her first two matches in three sets, to Sloane Stephens and Angelique Kerber. Then on Friday, she retired with a left leg injury while down a set to Kiki Bertens.

Still, all week long, the Japanese star has stayed positive. She was grateful for her many fans:

Her presence in Asia brought on a storm of extra media attention and fan love:

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And she tried to learn from her matches, particularly the 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 loss to Kerber:

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When all was said and done, she had a lot to be proud of:

Her coach Sascha Bajin agreed:

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Osaka ends the year having reached a career-high ranking of No. 4 and two titles—the US Open and her first-ever WTA title in Indian Wells.