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Sara Sorribes Tormo's Tokyo upset of Ashleigh Barty

Spain's Sorribes Tormo eliminated top-ranked Barty in the first round of Olympic singles. Tokyo 2020 was played in 2021, and singles was separate from the doubles events.

An original NewsCubby historical explainer. Event dates appear in the article; this is not a breaking-news announcement.

The Olympic match

The International Tennis Federation's Tokyo report records Sara Sorribes Tormo beating Ashleigh Barty in straight sets, 6–4, 6–3. It was a first-round singles upset of the world number one, bringing Barty's singles title bid to an early end. The tournament carried the Tokyo 2020 name despite taking place in July 2021.

Source [1]

One draw does not describe every event

Barty also competed with John Peers in mixed doubles; the ITF later reported that pairing reaching the semifinals. A singles elimination therefore did not mean every part of her Olympic participation had ended. Olympic tennis has separate singles, doubles and mixed-doubles draws, with different partners and medal paths. Raducanu's US Open run later in 2021 offers another contrast: a Grand Slam qualifying route and an Olympic draw are different competition structures, even when familiar tennis names appear in both.

Source [2]

Sources and further reading

  1. ITF — Sorribes Tormo stuns Barty in Tokyo ↗
  2. ITF — Barty and Peers in Tokyo mixed doubles ↗