TENNIS

As Naomi Osaka’s 23-match winning streak neared an end Wednesday, she paused before serving to crane her neck and study the sky, as if seeking intervention from above.

Then she carried on, and so did No. 23-seeded Maria Sakkari, who upset Osaka 6-0, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the Miami Open.

“The more stuff like this happens, the more I’ll learn from it,” the No. 2-ranked Osaka said.

The defeat was her first since February 2020, and it ended any chance of reclaiming the No. 1 ranking this week from Ash Barty, who is in the semifinals.

Sakkari will next play No. 8-seeded Bianca Andreescu of Canada, who dropped serve eight times but still outlasted unseeded Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. Andreescu is playing in the United States for the first time since winning the 2019 U.S. Open.

The other women’s semifinal Thursday will pit No. 1-seeded Ash Barty against No. 5 Elina Svitolina.

Osaka won her fourth Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in February, but in five Miami appearances she has never advanced beyond the quarterfinals. She said couldn’t get comfortable on the tournament’s hard-court surface.

“I felt like I haven’t been playing well this whole tournament, like I couldn’t find a groove,” she said.

Against Sakkari, the only Greek woman ranked in the top 250, Osaka lost 15 consecutive points on her serve to fall behind and blew a 4-1 lead in the second set. She faced a break point on seven of her eight service games.

“Today’s service problems kind of came out of nowhere,” Osaka said. “My first serve wasn’t going in at all today.”

Sakkari earned her sixth career win over a top-five opponent. She’s still in the tournament only because she saved six match points in the previous round before beating American Jessica Pegula.

In men’s play, 19-year-old Italian Jannik Sinner earned his first semifinal berth in an ATP Tour top-level event by beating No. 32-seeded Alexander Bublik 7-6 (5), 6-4.

Bublik smiled as he congratulated the No. 21-seeded Sinner at the net.

“You’re not a human, man,” Bublik joked. “You’re 15 years old and you play like this? Good job.”

Osaka made just 41% of her first serves and paid a price, because Sakkari aggressively attacked the second set. Sakkari also served well and would repeatedly extend rallies until Osaka made an error.

“I don’t think it was the best tennis I played in my life,” Sakkari said. “I just did what I had to do.”

Osaka took a 40-0 lead in the opening game, but didn’t win another point on her serve until the second set. When she ended the drought, she received a big ovation from the small crowd, which she followed up with her best stretch of tennis.

But Sakkari rallied. From 40-0 down she won five consecutive points, hitting one last thunderous return to break for a 5-4 lead. She then coolly served out the victory.

“I just really enjoyed myself out there,” Sakkari said.

SOCCER

WOMEN’S CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Chelsea and Barcelona advanced to the semifinals of the Women’s Champions League on Wednesday.

Pernille Harder scored against her former team to lead Chelsea to a 3-0 win over Wolfsburg, and 5-1 on aggregate. Barcelona outlasted Manchester City, losing the second leg 2-1 but advancing 4-2 on aggregate.

Chelsea will face either Bayern Munich or Rosengård in the semifinals. Bayern defeated the Swedish club 3-0 in the first leg, and they play again Thursday in Malmo.

Barcelona awaits either five-time defending champion Lyon or Paris Saint-Germain. The Lyon-PSG second leg was moved to April 18 after a coronavirus outbreak in the Lyon squad.

UEFA: Aiming to have more fans at this year’s European Championship games, UEFA on Wednesday ended its own limit on stadium capacity for matches it organizes during the coronavirus pandemic.

UEFA said the cap on stadiums being 30% full, which was imposed in October, was no longer needed. Local officials have the ultimate authority.

“(T)he number of permitted spectators should fall under the exclusive responsibility of the relevant competent local/national authorities,” UEFA said in a statement.

A season-long ban on ticket sales for traveling fans was also extended up to mid-May, ending before the Champions League final on May 29 in Istanbul.

Fans have not been able to attend most UEFA-organized games this season in the Champions League and Europa League. National team games have been affected in qualifying for Euro 2020 and the 2022 World Cup, plus last year’s Nations League.

Euro 2020 kicks off after a one-year postponement on June 11 in Rome – one of 12 host cities around Europe. UEFA wants to finalize plans with each host city in April for how many fans they expect to allow safely in their stadiums.

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