Italian Open: Osaka dramatically falls to Stearns after losing thriller

Japanese Naomi Osaka lost to American Peyton Stearns 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (4) in their third-round Italian Open encounter at the Foro Italico in Roma on Monday.

Stearns, ranked No 42, will play the winner of the match between Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, the No 16 seed, and American Danielle Collins, the No 29 seed, next.

“I think Peyton played very well,” Osaka stated after the match.

“It was a physical match and maybe the consecutive matches caught up to me a bit. Going to rest for a bit and reset for Roland Garros. I feel much more confident on clay.

“Winning my first clay title and winning some tough matches helps instill some confidence ahead of Roland Garros.”

Ahead of her victory, the American defeated Italian wildcard Nuria Brancaccio (6-3, 6-2), Russian Anna Kalinskaya, the No 28 seed (6-2, 6-3) and No 5 seed Madison Keys (2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (3)).

Osaka, ranked No 48, won against Italian wildcard Sara Errani (6-2, 6-3), Swiss lucky loser Viktorija Golubic (2-6, 7-5, 6-1) and Marie Bouzkova (4-6, 6-3, 6-3) earlier in the tournament.

Roma WTA 1000, other last 16 results (Foro Italico, clay, EUR 6.009.593, most recent results first):

• Aryna Sabalenka vs. Marta Kostyuk
• Bianca Andreescu vs. Qinwen Zheng
• Clara Tauson vs. Mirra Andreeva
• Coco Gauff vs. Emma Raducanu
• Elina Svitolina vs. Danielle Collins
• Jasmine Paolini vs. Jelena Ostapenko
• Diana Shnaider vs. Elise Mertens: monday