Pliskova reaches Rogers Cup quarters

Karolina Pliskova continued to settle in to her new role as world No 1, moving into the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup when Japanese teenager Naomi Osaka was forced to retire with an abdominal injury yesterday.

The 19-year-old qualifier, ranked 50th in the world, had been giving Pliskova a mighty battle, winning a second set tie-break, but then after being broken to open the third suddenly called for the trainer and a few moments later retired trailing 6-2 6-7(4) 1-0.

“I am really sorry for Naomi because I thought it was a really good match today, she played well, especially in the second set she was fighting pretty hard, much better than the first,” said Pliskova, contesting her first event as the top ranked player. “I was just trying to stay in the game, the first game of the third set was very tough I didn’t even know she was injured.”