Olympic Women's Tennis 2021: Barty Upset Tops Saturday Results, Scores, Reaction

Saturday marked the start of the women's tennis tournament at the 2021 Olympics with a total of 23 matches, led by Naomi Osaka taking on Saisai Zheng. 

This will mark Osaka's first appearance in a tournament since withdrawing from the French Open after her first-round victory over Patricia Maria Tig on May 31. 

One player who won't be around to potentially challenge Osaka is Ash Barty. The No. 1 overall seed was stunned in her first match by Sara Sorribes Tormo. 

Here are the results from each match as they go final:

Results

Sara Sorribes Tormo def. No. 1 Ash Barty 6-4, 6-3

No. 2 Naomi Osaka def. Saisai Zheng 6-1, 6-4

No. 3 Aryna Sabalenka def. Magda Linette 6-2, 6-1

No. 4 Elina Svitolina vs. Laura Siegemund 6-3, 5-7, 6-4

No. 5 Karolina Pliskova def. Alize Cornet 6-1, 6-3

No. 7 Garbine Muguruza def. Veronika Kudermetova 7-5, 7-5

No. 8 Barbora Krejcikova def. Zarina Diyas 5-2 (Retired)

No. 9 Belinda Bencic def. Jessica Pegula 6-3, 6-3

No. 10 Petra Kvitova def. Jasmine Paolini 6-4, 6-3

Camila Giorgi def. No. 11 Jennifer Brady 6-3, 6-2

Ekaterina Alexandrova def. No. 12 Elise Mertens 4-6, 6-4, 6-4

Marketa Vondrousova def. No. 16 Kiki Bertens 6-4, 3-6, 6-4

Paula Badosa def. Kristina Mladenovic 6-7, 6-3, 6-0

Misaki Doi def. Renata Zarazua 6-3, 6-2

Mihaela Buzarnescu def. Alison Riske 6-7, 7-5, 6-4

Qiang Wang def. Veronica Cepede Royg 6-4, 6-3

Fiona Ferro def. Anastasija Sevastova 2-6, 6-4, 6-2

Nadia Podoroska def. Yulia Putintseva 7-6 (4), 1-3 (Retired)

 Alison Van Uytvanck def. Ivana Jorovic 6-3, 6-2

Carla Suarez Navarro def. Ons Jabeur 6-4, 6-1

Elena Vesnina def. Jelena Ostapenko 6-4, 6-7 (2), 6-4

Donna Vekic def. Caroline Garcia 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-3

Ajla Tomljanovic def. Yaroslava Shvedova 7-5, 3-2 (Retired)

Recap

Kiki Bertens' singles career came to an end with her three-set loss to Marketa Vondrousova. The Netherlands native announced last month that 2021 would be her final season. She missed the first three months of the year recovering from Achilles surgery in October. 

Originally, Bertens said she would retire either at the end of the year or after the Olympics. The 29-year-old confirmed after her loss in the first round that this was her final singles match. 

"I think I can be really proud of myself. I would have never dreamed what I've achieved," she told reporters after the match. "There's so many memories, so many great people I've met over the years. I'm just going away with a happy face and no regrets."

One of the biggest upsets saw Jennifer Brady, the highest-seeded American in the women's field (No. 11), lose in her first singles match to Camila Giorgi. The early trends for Team USA on the tennis court have not been encouraging in the early going.  

One player who had no such problems in her opening match was Aryna Sabalenka. The No. 3 seed lost just three games total in her 6-2, 6-1 victory over Magda Linette. 

Sabalenka picked up right where she left off from earlier this month when she made a run to the Wimbledon semifinal. 

On the subject of Wimbledon, Barty's expectations for the Olympics were likely sky-high coming off her first-ever victory at the All England Club two weeks ago. 

Barty's loss ensures this will be the fourth consecutive Olympiad in which the top-ranked women's player doesn't win the gold medal. Justine Henin was the last woman to accomplish that feat in 2004. 

Tormo has already had the best season of her career to this point. She won her first WTA tournament in March by defeating Eugenie Bouchard in the final at the Abierto Zapopan. 

While there's still a lot of work for Tormo to do in Tokyo, the 24-year-old already has the signature win of her career by sending Barty home. 

Naomi Osaka now looks like the heavy favorite after easily taking care of business against Saisai Zheng.