Western e Southern Open: Victoria Azarenka wins 1st title in four years

Victoria Azarenka won the Western & Southern Open title by walkover after her opponent Naomi Osaka pulled out ahead of their final with an injury to her left hamstring.

Announcing her decision to withdraw from the final, Osaka shared, “I’m sorry to have to withdraw today with an injury. I pulled my left hamstring yesterday in the second set tiebreak and it has not recovered overnight as I had hoped. This has been an emotional week and I want to thank everyone for the outpouring of support.”

Western & Southern Open: Victoria Azarenka's title, Naomi Osaka's stand

Prior to her unexpected pre-final withdrawal, the former world no. 1 had announced she would not play her semi-finals on the initially scheduled date – Thursday, 27th August – as a mark of protest against racial inequality after the shooting of an African-American person Jacob Blake by policemen. The USTA alongside the ATP and WTA, then, decided to cancel the entire day’s session, leading to a postponement of the schedule by a day, i.e. for Friday, 28th August.

Talking about her commitment to the cause, Osaka said, “It was hard because I felt like I put myself in a really good position. When I was practicing during quarantine, all I thought of was playing tournaments. So just to be in the semis of a tournament I felt was something that I could really be proud of. It was also at the same time easy, because I felt like I needed to raise my voice. If withdrawing from a tournament would cause the most stir, then it's something that I would have to do… I just feel like this is what I'm supposed to be doing in this moment.”

Osaka will play fellow Japanese Misaki Doi in the first round of the US Open that will begin on Monday, 31st August.

Meanwhile, despite the nature of her win, the victory is still a milestone for the Belarusian who claims first singles title since completing the Sunshine Double in 2016. In 2019, she had reached the Monterrey Open finals but had to concede the match part-way against Garbine Muguruza because of a leg injury.

After her Western & Southern Open success, Azarenka will play Austria’s Barbara Haas in the first round at the US Open.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/31ETIgr