Britain’s Katie Boulter came close to upsetting world No3 Naomi Osaka and derailing her 13-match winning streak in Melbourne on Wednesday.
Boulter, who had stunned American teenager Coco Gauff in the previous round, looked on course to take an even bigger scalp en route to the quarter-finals of the Gippsland Trophy when she won the opening set.
But the 24-year-old could not sufficiently rally in what proved a 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 defeat.
Osaka was full of praise for Boulter, who had dropped to No371 in the world after a back issue and subsequent chronic fatigue but recovered for a bright start to 2021.
“After I lost the first set, I thought I just want to fight as hard as I can,” said Osaka. “She was playing really amazing and I thought, ‘If lose, okay, but I have to give it my best best. I like to play long matches and I played a short match yesterday so maybe I made myself play a long match today.”
On a tough day for the British women in Melbourne, tournament No5 seed Johanna Konta missed out on the right to play Osaka in the next round as she lost a nailbiter 6-4, 6-7, 6-7 to Irina-Camelia Begu.
The British No1 failed to convert two match points of her own and defended eight match points before eventually losing out in a marathon three-and-a-half hour contest.
And Heather Watson, in her first competitive outing in Melbourne after her hard two-week hotel quarantine, struggled in a 6-2, 6-2 loss to Veronika Kudermetova.
Of the British men, Dan Evans won his match in Melbourne 6-3, 7-5 to set up a last-16 encounter against Marcus Giron.
