Karolina Muchova Beats Naomi Osaka to Win Bad Homburg Title

LONDON: Fourth seed Karolina Muchova won the Wimbledon warm-up tournament at Bad Homburg, Germany, on Saturday after Naomi Osaka withdrew with an ankle injury.

In the first grass court final of her career, the four-time Grand Slam winner Osaka was troubled by the injury and lost the opening set 6-1, having taken a short break for treatment after losing the first three games.

The Japanese sixth seed battled on but was visibly troubled by the injury, eventually signalling she would be unable to continue one game into the second set.

Muchova’s victory continues a strong season for the 29-year-old Czech, who won the Qatar Open in February and made it to the final of the Stuttgart WTA in April.

The victory will return Muchova to the top 10, with the Czech to climb to ninth when the rankings are updated on Monday. Agencies

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