Pliskova moves on
GREGORY STRONG
TORONTO — Japanese qualifier Naomi Osaka was brimming with confidence after taking a set off the world’s top-ranked women’s tennis player on Thursday at the Rogers Cup.
Any hope of completing a major upset over Karolina Pliskova was dashed moments later.
After her serve was broken to open the third set, Osaka decided to retire from the match due to an abdominal injury. That gave Pliskova a 6-2, 6-7 (4), 1-0 victory and a berth in the quarter-finals.
It wasn’t immediately clear when Osaka suffered the injury. She was in form during the tiebreaker, firing a service winner to convert her second set point under the warm sun at Aviva Centre.
Pliskova came out strong to open the third set and Osaka called for a trainer at the changeover. She briefly stretched out on the hardcourt before the decision was made.
The world No. 50 received treatment after the match and did not speak to reporters.
Pliskova, meanwhile, will move on to play sixth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, who downed 10th-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 6-3, 6-1 on Thursday.
Pliskova, recently installed as world No. 1, also had an afternoon doubles match scheduled with Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard. They lost to Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany and Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic.
Caroline Garcia of France defeated American Catherine Bellis 6-4, 6-2 in the other early singles match.
Later Thursday, secondseeded Simona Halep of Romania defeated Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic. Third-seeded German Angelique Kerber played American Sloane Stephens and Ekaterina Makarova of Russia was was beaten by Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic.
American Venus Williams, the ninth seed, played fifth-seeded Ukrainian Elina Svitolina in the feature evening matchup. In the late match, Australian qualifier Ashleigh Barty was to meet fourth-seeded Garbine Muguruza of Spain.
In doubles play, Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., and Montreal-based Carson Branstine were to meet the topseeded duo of Makarova and Russia’s Elena Vesnina. Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko were to face Germany’s Julia Goerges and Ukraine’s Olga Savchuk.
Play continues at the US $2.74-million tournament through Sunday.