Naomi Osaka was forced to retire from the Auckland final as Clara Tauson claimed her third WTA title.
It was a heart-breaking scenario for Osaka as she was forced to retire despite winning the opening set.
The former Australian Open champion was cruising through the early stages and took a 5-1 lead in the opening set.
However Tauson rallied back, finding her range on the forehand side in order to gain one of the breaks back in the eighth game.
The world number 57 wasn’t to be denied though as Osaka closed out the opening set 6-4 in 42 minutes.
Despite the scoreline, Osaka felt some discomfort in her abdomen and immediately called the trainer for a medical time-out.
The discomfort was too much and to the shock of the crowd Osaka was forced to retire, giving Tauson her third WTA title of her career.
After the match Osaka thanked the crowd despite a bitterly disappointing moment for the former world number one, “I want to thank everyone for welcoming me to such a beautiful city,” Osaka was quoted by The Tennis Letter as saying.
“I had a lot of fun playing here. I’m really sorry about how it ended. I’m just really grateful to be here.”
Meanwhile Tauson admitted she couldn’t fully enjoy the title and is hoping to replicate her success from Auckland in Melbourne, “It’s not the way you want to win any match, and especially not the final,” Tauson told the WTA website.
“I felt like I had some more tennis to show today. I’m looking forward to going to Australia. Hopefully I can back [this] up with some great results there. It’s definitely a nice start to the season with the title, it’s my first one since 2021, so it’s been a while for me.”
Osaka will aim to recover in time for the Australian Open which started next Sunday.
