Finland’s Otto Virtanen was forced to withdraw from his 2026 US Open qualifier against Grigor Dimitrov with a back injury, eliminating him from the men’s singles in New York.<\/p>\n
Virtanen<\/a>, who reached the second round at Wimbledon earlier this year, had already beaten Ugo Blanchet<\/a> of France in straight sets and Great Britain’s Jack Pinnington Jones<\/a> in three sets in the qualifiers, which set up a match against former world number three Dimitrov<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, the Bulgarian progressed to take his place in the main draw without a ball being served, as Virtanen was unable to recover in time from a back injury he sustained in the second set against Pinnington Jones, handing Dimitrov a walkover<\/a>.<\/p>\n The ninth seed in qualifying battled through the pain to take the deciding set against the Brit, but was unable to recover in time, and therefore leaves Finland without a representative in men’s or women’s singles at the tournament in Queens.<\/p>\n A US Open semi-finalist in 2019, Dimitrov is looking to work his way back up the rankings after a pectoral injury at Wimbledon 2025 kept him out of action before inconsistent form on his return sees him currently ranked 140th, three places below Virtanen.<\/p>\n