19-year-old Japanese tennis player eliminated Kerber in the first round of the US Open

A big surprise happened in the women's singles event of the 2017 US Open when the defending champion Angelique Kerber (6th seed from Germany) shockingly lost to 19-year-old Japanese player Naomi Osaka 0-2 (3-6, 1-6) in the first round.

Osaka celebrates her victory over Kerber. Photo: Reuters

Facing a player 10 years her senior and once held the world No. 1 position Kerber (29 years old), Osaka (world No. 40) entered the match with confidence. In the first set, after 7 fierce matches, Kerber made consecutive errors in the 8th game and lost the break to Osaka.

Kerber played completely inferior to her 10-year-younger player. Photo: Reuters

Taking a 5-3 lead over Kerber, Osaka took advantage of the 9th game to serve and force her to give up her racket, losing 3-6 after 35 minutes of play. In the second game, Kerber played even worse, losing the first break early in the first game and quickly losing 1-6 to Osaka after only 29 minutes of play.

Kerber's disappointed face after losing to Osaka. Photo: Reuters

This defeat continues the poor form of the German tennis player in the past 12 months. Since winning the 2016 US Open, Kerber has lost all the tournaments she has participated in. "I will try to forget the match as soon as possible and come back stronger in the future" - Kerber sadly encouraged herself after the match.

Kerber (right) and Osaka shake hands after the match. Photo: Reuters

As for Osaka, the Japanese-American tennis player could not hide her joy when saying: "I believe I can compete with the world's top tennis players, so I have nothing to worry about when facing Kerber. However, when leading Kerber 4-1 in the second set, I was a bit nervous, but luckily I overcame that difficult moment to win."

The first-round defeat continued Kerber's poor form as she has not won a title in the past 12 months. Photo: Reuters

This is the first time in her career that Osaka has defeated a player in the world's top 10. This victory gives the young player confidence to improve on her best result at the US Open, reaching the third round in 2016.

Apart from Kerber's shocking defeat, top men's singles players such as Rafael Nadal and Karolina Pliskova all had easy victories to advance to round 1.

According to TTO