NEW YORK—Naomi Osaka was philosophical after her fourth-round US Open exit.

Belinda Bencic beat Osaka for the third time this year, 7-5, 6-4, snapping the top seed's 10-match Flushing Meadows winning streak and ending her reign as world No. 1.

More: Bencic Dethrones Defending Champion Osaka

Osaka said she was sad, not mad, after the defeat ending her bid to defend a Grand Slam title for the first time.

"For me, right now I have this feeling of sadness, but I also feel like I have learned so much during this tournament," Osaka said. "Honestly, of course I wanted to defend this tournament. I feel like the steps that I have taken as a person have been much greater than, like, I would imagine at this point.

"So I hope that I can keep growing. I know that if I keep working hard, then of course I'll have better results."

The Australian Open champion is looking forward to time off before launching her Asian swing and is hopeful her US Open experience will benefit her in Melbourne next January.

"So of course I can look at this and be very disappointed and mad, but I feel like I'm not mad at it," Osaka said. "Of course I would like to reach higher, like, rounds. That's definitely what I'll aim for in Australia. But for right now, I think the level of tennis that I was playing in Europe was terrible that's kind of mean.

"Was not that great. Yeah, just coming here, two quarterfinals, round of 16. Hopefully I'll do well in Japan because I always do well in Japan, and just keep building off of it to end the season."

Photo credit: US Open Facebookg Mead