Injured Osaka exits Madrid Open but Raducanu marches on

MADRID: An injured Naomi Osaka made a second round exit from the Madrid Open on Sunday, falling 6-3, 6-1 to home favourite Sara Sorribes Tormo.

Four-time major champion Osaka revealed she sustained an Achilles injury after her opening win against Anastasia Potapova and that it limited her performance against the tireless Spaniard.

It was the Japanese star’s second consecutive loss to Sorribes Tormo, who advanced to a last-16 showdown with Russia’s Daria Kasatkina. Osaka, playing with tape on her left lower leg, dropped serve in game three as Sorribes Tormo extended the rallies to draw the errors from her 24-year-old opponent. But the Spaniard’s lead did not last as Osaka retaliated immediately to draw level for 2-2.

Sorribes Tormo took four of the next five games though to grab the opening set on the 49-minute mark. Osaka was broken early in the second and called for the doctor, who gave her Ibuprofen for the pain.

The 25-year-old Sorribes Tormo breezed through the second set and the contest was over in under 90 minutes. Osaka is not too concerned about the Achilles problem but admits she could have managed the injury better by taking painkillers sooner than she did.

“I feel like I couldn’t play the way that I wanted to play, like I was limited. So there are various things I thought I could do better from the match previously, but I just couldn’t do it,” Osaka explained.

Meanwhile, Emma Raducanu played a near flawless match to dismiss Ukrainian teenager Marta Kostyuk 6-2, 6-1 and reach the last-16 of a WTA 1000 tournament for the first time. US Open champion Raducanu, who is playing just the second tour-level clay-court event of her career, committed just five unforced errors and dropped a mere three points behind her first serve en route to a 64-minute victory.

“I’m definitely very happy with my performance today. Marta is a great opponent,” said Raducanu of her fellow 19-year-old Kostyuk. “We’ve played several times in the juniors and then once last year.

“I knew it was always going to be a really tough battle so I went out there trying to be really aggressive. “It’s pretty funny because it’s my first clay-court season and I’m really enjoying it. Madrid is such a cool city and it’s got such a great vibe about it so I definitely want to try and stay here for as long as possible.”

Raducanu will square off with another Ukrainian in the next round in the form of world number 37 Anhelina Kalinina, who posted the first top-10 victory of her career on Sunday by upsetting home favourite and world number nine Garbine Muguruza 6-3, 6-0 in 81 minutes.

Earlier in the day, Canadian Bianca Andreescu claimed her first top-10 victory on clay, and first on any surface since the 2019 US Open final, by upsetting world number eight Danielle Collins 6-1, 6-1 in second round action.

Andreescu, who spent six months away from the sport citing mental health reasons, is competing in just her second tournament back and surprised herself by being so dominant in her 69-minute win over Collins, who made the Australian Open final a few months ago.