TOKYO —
Naomi Osaka said she felt “really scared” after
watching opponent Daria Saville collapse with a knee injury just seven minutes
into their Pan Pacific Open match in Tokyo on Tuesday.
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Australian Saville retired from their first-round
encounter after hurting her left knee hitting a cross-court forehand in the
second game of the match.
The world number 55 yelled out “my knee” before
dropping to the ground in agony, and Osaka rushed over to her side of the court
to check on her opponent.
Saville, 28, retired from the match after several
minutes of treatment and Osaka, who has struggled with injury herself this
year, said she felt “really sad” for her opponent.
“I thought that she was just yelling because she
thought her forehand was out, then I realized that she was yelling because she
was in pain,” said the former world number one, who is aiming to break a slump
in form this week in Tokyo.
“Then I got really scared because I felt like as
athletes we have a pretty high pain tolerance. It seemed really bad.”
Saville eventually got up and walked over to her
chair, but she retired after testing her knee with several footwork exercises.
Osaka said she thought Saville was “going to be OK”,
adding that she was “a fighter”.
Osaka, who was on break point at 30–40 in the second
game after holding her serve in the first game, will play Brazil’s Beatriz
Haddad Maia in the second round on Thursday.
“Right now, it still feels a bit weird that I just
won a match — I feel like I didn’t win a match,” said Osaka, who has lost in
the first round at her last three tournaments.
“I guess that I did and I’m progressing through the
tournament. I’m not really thinking too much about the final right now.”
Osaka is the defending Pan Pacific Open champion,
although the tournament is being played for the first time since 2019 because
of the pandemic.
Earlier in the day, 2020
Australian Open champion
Sofia Kenin of the US lost 7–6 (9/7), 6–4 to Mexican qualifier Fernanda
Contreras Gomez in the first round.
Kenin also reached the French Open final in 2020 but
she has since dropped to 315 in the world rankings after struggling with
injury.
Number six seed
Karolina Pliskova, a two-time Grand Slam
finalist, beat Bulgarian qualifier Isabella Shinikova 6–2, 6–1.
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