Naomi Osaka into round three after Danilovic withdrawal

Defending champion Naomi Osaka enjoyed the most comfortable passage to the third round of the US Open she could have imagined on Wednesday when Olga Danilovic of Serbia withdrew before their match.

The official reason given by tournament officials was “medical reasons”, which immediately led many people to speculate it may be Covid-19-related.

However, in a statement on her Instagram account, the 20-year-old said she’d been struggling with a virus not connected to the Coronavirus.

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A post shared by Olga Danilovic (@danilovicolga)

Osaka, the champion in 2018 and 2020 and the No 3 seed, will now play Leylah Fernandez of Canada in the third round on Friday.