Naomi Osaka apologized to Victoria Mboko following the Canadian Open while both players withdrew from the Cincinnati Open.
On Thursday, Mboko rode the support of the crowd to stun Osaka and seal a 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 upset win in the National Bank Open final in Montreal. Her victory meant the 18-year-old became the second-youngest player in the Open Era to knock out four Grand Slam champions at a single tournament.
Mboko thanked the fans and organizers before also heaping praise on Osaka, labeling her an inspiration. But Osaka was in no mood to celebrate her opponent, given that the four-time Grand Slam champion appeared visibly frustrated during the lopsided third set.
“I don’t really want to take up too much time, so I’ll say thank you to everyone,” Osaka said as she held back tears. “Thank you to my team, thank you to the organizers, and all the volunteers. I hope you guys had a good night.”
Osaka skipped her post-match press conference, but apologized to Mboko in a social media post: “Thanks Montreal it’s been a really great run. I also want to say sorry and congratulations to Victoria. You played a great match and have an amazing career ahead!
“I realize I didn’t congratulate you on the court. Honestly I was in a daze and I was so focused on not having the same speech as IW 2018 finals or the Jenny/Jennifer situation that I tried to make my speech as short as possible.
“Thanks everyone for the week, see you in NY.”
With Mboko and Osaka targeting success at the U.S. Open later this month, both women decided to withdraw from the Cincinnati Open. Osaka cited a schedule change for the decision, while Mboko pointed to a left wrist injury that she sustained during her remarkable run from wild card to a WTA Tour champion.
“I’m going to take care of my wrist,” Mboko told wtatennis.com in her Champions Corner interview on Thursday. “Just do some prevention and recovery and prepare for what’s to come.”
DON’T MISS
Mboko and Osaka were both unseeded in Cincinnati and were set to receive performance byes into the second round after reaching the Montreal final. This has created a unique situation in which two first-round matches have been created using the top four signed-in lucky losers from qualifying.
Iva Jovic and Solana Sierra replaced Osaka, with the American Jovic emerging victorious to take on No. 20 seed Linda Noskova in the Round of 64. Meanwhile, Mboko was replaced by a Christina Busca-Yuan Yue showdown, which saw the Chinese player advance to face No. 14 seed Diane Shnaider.