Injuries mount as Osaka, Serena, Kenin struggle ahead of Aussie Open

MELBOURNE: World number three Naomi Osaka joined Serena Williams and Simona Halep with injury niggles ahead of the Australian Open Saturday as defending champion Sofia Kenin blamed her groin strain on spending two weeks in coronavirus quarantine.

The season's first Grand Slam has had an unusual build-up after the pandemic torpedoed much of last year's schedule and gave players only a week to play warm-up tournaments after their mandatory quarantine in Australia.

Japan's Osaka, the US Open champion and 2019 Australian Open winner, withdrew from her Gippsland Trophy semi-final against Elise Mertens, blaming a long-standing shoulder problem.

"Anyone that's followed me for a bit knows that I've had a slight shoulder thing since 2018 in Beijing," she said. "It kind of flared up again because I played a lot of matches back-to-back.

"But, yeah, my main focus is hoping I can rest enough before the Open."

Osaka had looked in fine form powering past Irina-Camelia Begu 7-5, 6-1 in 76 minutes on Friday.

She joined Williams as a late withdrawal after the American 23-time Grand Slam winner pulled out of her semi-final against world number one Ashleigh Barty with a shoulder problem Friday.

Williams, 39, who withdrew after beating fellow American Danielle Collins 6-2, 4-6, 10-6 in the Yarra Valley Classic, said Saturday that the injury wasn't serious.

"I feel pretty good. I've gotten a lot of treatment already on my shoulder. But I'm super-confident it's going to be great," she said.

However, Williams added: "It's definitely something that I'm going to have to deal with for the fortnight."

Spanish world number two Rafael Nadal has also been struggling with a lower-back problem that has kept him out of the ATP Cup.

Two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka was another casualty, opting not to play her quarter-final clash with Anett Kontaveit at the Grampians Trophy due to a lower-back injury.