Two-time tennis champion Naomi Osaka has withdrawn from her Australian Open third-round match shortly before she was due to take the court against home qualifier Maddison Inglis over abdominal injury.
The 28 year old Japanis player’s announcement came about two hours before the pair were expected to take to Rod Laver Arena in Saturday’s night session.
She cited a left abdominal injury made it necessary for her pulling out.
“I’ve had to make the difficult decision to withdraw to address something my body needs attention for after my last match,” Osaka, who was seeded 16th, wrote on Instagram.
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“I was so excited to keep going and this run meant the most to me, so having to stop here breaks my heart but I can’t risk doing any further damage so I can get back on the court.”
Inglis, 28, is ranked 168th in the world and moves into the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career.
Naomi came through three qualifying rounds and will now face either Polish second seed Iga Swiatek or Russian 31st seed Anna Kalinskaya for a place in the quarter-finals.
