Naomi Osaka’s return to the U.S. Open didn’t last long.
Two days after a stirring, straight-set upset over 10th-ranked Jelena Ostapenko, Osaka looked capable of hanging around awhile in Flushing.
Instead, she bowed out on Thursday night in disappointing fashion, and Osaka only had herself to blame.
This wasn’t a case of necessarily losing to a superior player.
Osaka beat herself after playing mostly mistake-free tennis in the brilliant opening-round performance.
Osaka committed 21 unforced errors in a 6-3, 7-6 (5) loss to unseeded Czech Karolina Muchova under the lights at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
In her first U.S. Open since 2022 — Osaka took time off to give birth to a baby girl — she was too mistake-prone.
Of her 21 errors, 17 came in the second set, and she added four double faults.
The game that turned the match came right after her one and only break of Muchova, which gave her a 5-4 lead in the second set.
But a series of miscues enabled Muchova — a semifinalist at the U.S. Open last summer who has seen her ranking plummet to 52nd in the world — to break back.
And in the tiebreak, it was against Osaka being unable to complete points.
She had a key double fault when up 4-2 in the tiebreaker and facing match point, Osaka was unable to convert a forehand swinging volley at the net.