Naomi Osaka's loss at the Wuhan Open sparked jokes about settling a grudge from four years ago, while Wang Xinyu's defeat reveals a painful underlying reason.

Who is the most heart-wrenching female player at this year's Wuhan Open? Many fans and online viewers named Naomi Osaka and Wang Xinyu.

Osaka’s inclusion is quite humorous, as it appears she came to Wuhan to get revenge for her defeat at the US Open four years ago, and once she accomplished that, she promptly departed; Wang Xinyu, meanwhile, lost the match due to her own shortcomings.

The Japanese player faced Canadian Fernandez in the first round of the Wuhan Open 1000 event, drawing considerable attention as people were eager to see if Osaka could exact revenge after four years.

At the 2021 US Open, after winning the Australian Open earlier that year, Osaka was one of the top favorites at Flushing Meadows. It was expected that she would easily defeat Fernandez in the round of 16, but despite winning the first set, Osaka was surprisingly overturned by Fernandez, ending her championship hopes prematurely.

From that moment on, Osaka’s performance in Grand Slams declined sharply; she was no longer the shining Japanese star. After becoming pregnant out of wedlock and giving birth, her comeback form hit rock bottom until she reached the semifinals again at this year’s US Open, regaining some public confidence.

Osaka’s appearance at this year’s China Open was highly anticipated, but she was eliminated early. After such a poor showing in the Chinese season, facing Fernandez again led some to humorously call it a cycle of fate from four years ago, worrying she might not overcome the Canadian player and suffer another defeat.

Four years ago, when Fernandez played Osaka, some said, “Jumping against the Eastern flower is especially intense, always producing surprising energy,” a phrase that seemed evident from the first set.

Some described Fernandez’s form then as “born to face Osaka.” After breaking Osaka’s serve in the fifth game, Fernandez gave no chance for a comeback and closed out the first set 6-4.

As the contrast in their form became clear, fans and netizens in the livestream began speculating how Fernandez would continue to challenge the former world No. 1, extinguishing Osaka’s desire for revenge.

What deserves praise for Osaka is that even after Fernandez caught up from 0-3 to level the second set, Osaka still managed to win it 7-5, showing her strong will and ambition to defeat the Canadian player fueled by her desire for revenge.

Since Osaka’s form seemed unstable, when she took a 3-0 lead in the deciding set, some joked in the livestream that she was probably repeating the second set’s pattern—starting strong but fading quickly. Some even warned that if this happened again, Fernandez might not give her another chance.

This time, Osaka surprised everyone by maintaining steady performance without major fluctuations, sealing the final set 6-3 and officially avenging her US Open loss from four years ago. Fans and netizens called it a belated victory, saying, “Though it took four years, it finally arrived.”

Defeating a strong-form Fernandez at the Wuhan Open led many to believe Osaka could shake off her poor China Open performance and stage a comeback in Wuhan. However, just as expectations rose, she was swept in straight sets by Czech player Noskova. Many fans and netizens joked that Osaka seemed to come to Wuhan solely to avenge Fernandez, and once that mission was complete, her Wuhan journey ended quickly.

Osaka left amid sighs from many, while Wang Xinyu, leading the Chinese players due to Zheng Qinwen’s withdrawal, faced an even worse situation. If Osaka’s loss to the recent China Open runner-up wasn’t too upsetting, then Wang’s first-round exit seemed like she lost to herself entirely.

Drawing Japan’s Uchinuma Honoka in the first round was widely seen as a great opportunity for Wang Xinyu’s Wuhan debut, with expectations that she would easily sweep the Japanese player.

However, after the match, instead of news of Wang’s victory, people were shocked to learn that she was upset by Uchinuma with a straight-sets loss of 6-4, 7-6, creating one of the biggest surprises at the start of the Wuhan Open.

Wang Xinyu was deeply upset and cried after the loss. Many comforted her and defended her effort, saying competing with an injury and performing like that was already commendable and understandable. In a post-match interview, Wang refused to blame injury for her defeat, stressing it was entirely her fault for not playing at her best, calling it a match where “various aspects were not fully in tune recently.”

Wang also revealed the cause behind this, citing excessive psychological pressure that unexpectedly surfaced during the match, making the loss feel inexplicable.

After back-to-back first-round exits at the China Open and Wuhan Open, China’s No. 2 will next compete in the 500-level tournaments in Ningbo and Tokyo, aiming to end her current losing streak. Her upcoming performances are highly anticipated!(Source: Tennis Home, Author: Moonlight River’s Starry Sky)