TOKYO • World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty crashed out of the Olympics' women's singles tennis tournament in the opening round yesterday, losing 6-4, 6-3 to Spain's Sara Sorribes Tormo.
In the biggest shock of the competition, the reigning Wimbledon champion dropped serve twice in each set and made 55 unforced errors compared to just 13 for her opponent.
The pair had never played each other before and Sorribes Tormo was the clear underdog, ranked 47 places below the two-time Grand Slam winner.
But the 24-year-old showed why she is considered to be one of the up-and-coming players on the WTA Tour.
Sorribes Tormo has had a breakthrough year, winning her maiden title at Guadalajara in addition to making the quarter-finals at Miami and the semi-finals at Monterrey and Bad Homburg.
However, the upset of Barty will go down as a career highlight.
"It's an amazing feeling, I still can't believe it," said Sorribes Tormo, who will face France's Fiona Ferro in the second round.
"It's something incredible for me. It's something I've been dreaming of all my life, being here and even more so beating the world No. 1. I'm super, super happy."
On her stunning exit, Barty, the the first women's top seed to lose in the first round at the Games, said: "I'm disappointed I wasn't able to get through today, it just wasn't my day. Credit to Sara though, she is always a tough competitor.
"I never really felt comfortable out there and (I was) not able to play the match on my terms.
"The key to my game is serving well and I wasn't able to do that today. I was a bit erratic and made too many errors.
"I felt like I had to be aggressive today, and she made me press and overplay."
While Barty's bid to become the first Australian singles gold medallist in tennis ended prematurely, she and partner Storm Sanders are through to the second round of the women's doubles.
It was a good day for Spain's women singles contenders as Carla Suarez Navarro also secured her first competitive win after recovering from cancer as she beat Tunisia's Ons Jabeur 6-4, 6-1.
The 32-year-old veteran intends to retire after next month's US Open but plans to round off her farewell tour with a flourish.
There was no rustiness on the part of Naomi Osaka, though, with the world No. 2 now installed as the gold-medal favourite on home soil following Barty's elimination.
The four-time Grand Slam winner, playing her first match in two months after taking a break from tennis because of mental health issues, was dominant in a 6-1, 6-4 win over China's Zheng Saisai.
The Japanese said that she was "refreshed and happy again" with an eye on capturing her country's first gold medal in the sport.
"More than anything, I'm just focused on playing tennis," added the 23-year-old, who plays Swiss Viktorija Golubic today.
"Playing the Olympics has been a dream of mine since I was a kid, so I feel like the break I took was very needed."
In the men's draw, two-time defending Olympic champion Andy Murray of Britain had to withdraw from the singles competition because of injury, but the 34-year-old will still compete in the doubles.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
