Naomi Osaka and Marta Kostyuk will miss next month’s Qatar TotalEnergies Open in Doha.
Neither withdrawal is particular surprising. Osaka pulled out of her third-round match against qualifier Maddison Inglis at the Australian Open last week, citing a left abdominal injury.
“It’s an injury I’ve had a couple of times before, and I thought I could push through it,” the World No. 17 said after making the painful decision. “I played my last match with some pain, and I thought maybe if I gave myself a break before my match today, I would be able to handle it. But I warmed up, and it got a lot worse.
“I definitely have to do more tests, and obviously I think coming back from pregnancy, my body changed quite a lot. So this is something I have to be really cautious of.”
Kostyuk, currently No. 20 on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz, was also injured in Melbourne. During her first-round loss, a heartbreaking three-set defeat to Elsa Jacquemot, the Ukrainian injured her ankle. Tests later revealed that she had a torn ligament, forcing her to withdraw from the doubles draw.
It was especially unfortunate considering how well Kostyuk started the season, upsetting Amanda Anisimova, Mirra Andreeva and Jessica Pegula en route to the final in Brisbane.
China’s Wang Xinyu and former French Open finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova will replace Osaka and Kostyuk in the main draw.
The Qatar TotalEnergies Open, which kicks off on Feb. 8 and will run through Feb. 14, is the first WTA 1000 tournament of the season. The entire Top 10 of the PIF WTA Rankings will be in the 56-player singles draw, led by Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff.
Anisimova is the defending champion in Doha. She defeated Jelena Ostapenko, who is also in this year’s field, in the final.
AloJapan.com