TORONTO,
Canada —
Four-time Grand Slam champion
Naomi Osaka retired from her opening match on
Tuesday at the WTA Toronto Masters with lower back pain, raising injury
concerns with the US Open looming.
اضافة اعلان
Estonia’s
Kaia Kanepi advanced when Osaka
retired trailing 7–6 (7/4), 3–0. Kanepi, a runner-up last week in Washington,
needed 71 minutes on court as she broke three times before the Japanese star
called it quits.
Defeat drove the emotional Osaka to tears.
“I felt my back from the start of the match
and despite trying to push through it, I just wasn’t able to today,” Osaka
said.
“I’d like to pay credit to Kaia for playing
well and want to wish her all the best for the rest of the tournament.”
Osaka has played only six matches with a 2–4
record since losing the Miami final in early April to world number one Iga
Swiatek.
Kanepi, 37, won their only prior meeting five
years ago in three sets at the US Open.
“I tried to play my game and stay aggressive.
It was a very tight match,” Kanepi said. “I felt I needed a little more time to
get used to new things, but after that I felt comfortable.”
Reigning US Open champion
Emma Raducanu of
Britain exited in the first round, losing 7–6 (7/0), 6–2 to Italy’s Camila
Giorgi.
Despite the setback in the city of her birth
19 years ago, Raducanu kept her spirits up as her US Open title defense draws
nearer.
“It was a really good match, to be honest,”
Raducanu said. “The level was pretty high, especially in the first set.
“Camila’s a great opponent. She won this
tournament last year. I just need to get better at dealing with players who
play probably as quick as she does.”
Defending
WTA Canadian champion Giorgi won a
combative first set and ran away with the second against the 19-year-old
Englishwoman, whose title defense in New York begins in less than three weeks.
The feisty Italian trailed by a break in both
sets but showed her spirit by winning the last six games of the contest.
Giorgi needed just over an hour and
three-quarters to advance to the second round over the ninth seed who broke
into the ranking top 10 less than a month ago.
Raducanu had to hold on in a wild opening
set, where serve was broken in six of the dozen games played.
The Briton saved a set point in the 12th game
to bring on a tiebreaker, but collapsed to lose seven straight points as Giorgi
took the set after 71 minutes.
Raducanu was broken three times in the second set as
Giorgi finished off her victory.
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