Muchova wins Bad Homburg after Osaka retires in final with foot injury

Karolina Muchova captured her first career grass-court singles title at the Bad Homburg Open after Naomi Osaka retired early in the second set of Saturday's final.

Muchova, ranked No. 11 in the PIF WTA Rankings, was leading 6-1, 1-0 when Osaka, who was also seeking her first grass-court singles title on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz, retired because of a foot injury.

Muchova made a dominant start, breaking serve twice to race to a 4-0 lead before Osaka got on the scoreboard by holding serve. She maintained her advantage and broke Osaka again in the seventh game to take the opening set 6-1.

Muchova held serve to lead 1-0 in the second set when Osaka, who had taken a medical timeout during the first set for the injury, decided she could not continue after 46 minutes.

The title is Muchova's third career singles crown and her second of the season after winning the WTA 1000 event in Doha. The victory also levels her head-to-head record with Osaka at 3-3 and improves her record to 3-6 in WTA singles finals.

Osaka, who was bidding for her first WTA-level singles title since winning the Australian Open in 2021, falls to 7-7 in WTA singles finals.

She has now finished runner-up in three consecutive finals since her triumph in Melbourne and apologized to the crowd during the on-court trophy presentation.

"I just want to say thank you to everyone who came to watch the match," the former world No. 1 told the crowd. "I apologize for not being able to finish, but this atmosphere was incredible throughout the week."