Two-time Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka has stopped playing because of an injury after dropping the opening set of her third-round match against Belinda Bencic.
Belinda Bencic will face either Coco Gauff or Leylah Fernandez in the third round on her return to Grand Slam action at the Australian Open. Albeit it was in unfortunate circumstances as Naomi Osaka had to retire injured from their tie.
The abdominal injury that caused Naomi Osaka to retire from the Auckland final with a one-set lead over Clara Tauson less than two weeks ago struck again Friday, forcing the four-time major champion to cut a promising Australian Open short.
The 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 victory over Karolina Muchova allowed Osaka to reach the third round at a major tournament for the first time since the 2022 season.
Much like the second-rounder between Emma Raducanu and Amanda Anisimova, this will be a battle between two sneaky-young veterans—Coco is still just 20, Leylah 22. In one of those pro-tour quirks, they had never played until United Cup; now they’ll meet twice in three weeks.