Muchova wins in Bad Homburg as Osaka retires from the final for a foot injury

Czech fourth seed Karolina Muchova claimed the Bad Homburg Open title on Saturday when Japanese sixth seed Naomi Osaka was unable to continue, retiring while trailing 6-1, 1-0 in the final.

Muchova had been in command from the outset, racing through the opening set for the loss of a single game, and had just held for a 1-0 lead in the second when Osaka called a halt. It was a subdued end to a strong week for the Czech, who had taken treatment from the physio earlier in the tournament but found her level rising as it went on.

The title was the third of her career and her second of the season _ and, notably, her first on grass, a surface on which she has long been admired but rarely rewarded.

For Osaka, the retirement brought a difficult close to an otherwise excellent week. She had played some of her best tennis to reach the final, dropping serve sparingly as she beat Chinese Xinyu Wang (6-3, 6-3), Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova (6-2, 6-2), Belgian Elise Mertens (6-3, 6-3) and Pole Magdalena Frech (6-4, 6-1).

Speaking afterwards, she pointed to a problem with her foot that she said had first surfaced a couple of days earlier and worsened during the final, and was non-committal about her participation at Wimbledon, where she is scheduled to play on Monday. “We try to get it better until tomorrow, and then we’ll see,” she said.

It was the second time Osaka has retired from a final in recent seasons, after a similar outcome against Clara Tauson in Auckland in 2025, and the third such retirement in a WTA final since the start of last season.

Muchova, ranked No 11, had reached the final with wins over Romanian Elena-Gabriela Ruse (6-4, 6-4), Dane Clara Tauson (1-6, 6-2, 6-4) and Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu (6-1, 6-1). She arrives at Wimbledon, where she has twice reached the quarter-finals, with a first grass-court title to her name.