Naomi Osaka was eliminated from the Pan Pacific Open on Thursday as Slovakia’s Mia Pohankova secured a 6-3 7-5 victory in Tokyo. Seeded seventh and competing before a home crowd in Japan, Osaka lost to a wild-card entrant who had turned 18 only a week earlier.
Pohankova arrived with a junior Grand Slam title to her name, having won the Wimbledon junior singles competition in 2025. Her straight-sets defeat of Osaka followed the Japanese player’s opening-round victory over Jasmine Paolini.
The result earned Pohankova a place in the quarter-finals against Alycia Parks. In her own round-of-16 match on Thursday, Parks defeated Kimberly Birrell 6-3 6-1. Leylah Fernandez also advanced, overcoming fifth seed Elise Mertens 6-2 7-6 after taking the second-set tie-break 8-6.
The tournament had already lost two highly seeded competitors to injury. Second seed Maja Chwalinska withdrew with a left-thigh injury, while fourth seed Belinda Bencic pulled out because of an injury to her right ankle.
