Fourth seed Karolina Muchova claimed the Wimbledon warm-up tournament at Bad Homburg, Germany, on Saturday after Naomi Osaka was forced to retire with an ankle injury. The four-time Grand Slam winner Osaka, playing in her first grass-court final, lost the opening set 6-1 and was trailing 0-1 in the second set when she withdrew.
Osaka's Injury Struggles
Osaka took a medical timeout after losing the first three games, receiving treatment on her left ankle. She returned to win her only game of the set with a stunning back-spinning drop shot but was visibly troubled. After dropping the opening game of the second set on Muchova's serve, Osaka discussed the injury with her coach before informing the umpire she could not continue.
“I want to say thank you to everyone who came to the match and I want to apologise for not being able to finish,” Osaka said on court. “Congratulations to Karolina. You're one of the coolest girls on tour and it's always really fun to play you. I hope you have the best of luck in Wimbledon.”
Muchova's Strong Season Continues
Muchova's victory continues a strong season for the 29-year-old Czech, who won the Qatar Open in February and reached the final of the Stuttgart WTA in April. “It couldn't have been a better week for me here in Bad Homburg, or maybe if it was 10 degrees less it could have been better,” Muchova said.
The win, her first at WTA 500 level and on grass, will return Muchova to the top 10, climbing to ninth when the rankings are updated on Monday.
Match Conditions and Context
Despite being brought forward to 0900 GMT to avoid the heat, the temperature was already 36 degrees Celsius (96.8 Fahrenheit) when play began. Osaka, a two-time winner on hard courts at the US Open and Australian Open, had been broken only five times in four matches en route to the final but quickly fell two breaks and three games down in the opening set.
Wimbledon begins on Monday, with Muchova seeded 10th and Osaka 14th.
