Naomi Osaka Withdraws from Japan Open Due to Injury
The tennis player Naomi Osaka was forced to withdraw from the Japan Open tournament on Friday due to a left leg injury. Osaka’s withdrawal, who was the top seed, occurred before the quarter-final match, allowing Jaqueline Cristian to advance directly to the semi-finals. According to the tournament organizers, Osaka did not recover from the injury suffered in her second-round match. This will be Cristian’s third semifinal appearance of the year, and the first on a surface other than clay. Before the injury, Osaka achieved victories over Wakana Sonobe and Suzan Lamens, the 2024 champion. After splitting the first two sets with Lamens, Osaka was leading 5-0 in the third. However, during an exchange with Lamens, Osaka felt discomfort in her left leg.Despite winning the point after Lamens sent a deflected backhand, Osaka requested a medical timeout after the next point. The four-time Grand Slam champion returned to the court with her left thigh bandaged and with limitations in her movement, but managed to close out the match on her third match point.
Osaka also suffered defeats in the second round of the China Open at the end of September and at the Wuhan Open last week. In another quarterfinal match of the Japan Open, Leylah Fernandez, finalist of the 2021 US Open, defeated Rebecca Šramková with a score of 7-6 (2), 6-3.
