Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic secured her first grass court title at the Bad Homburg Open in Germany on Saturday after Naomi Osaka of Japan retired early in the final due to an ankle injury. The fourth-seeded Muchova was leading 6-1, 1-0 when Osaka, the sixth seed and four-time Grand Slam champion, withdrew one game into the second set.

The match, held under sweltering conditions with temperatures reaching 36 degrees Celsius (96.8 Fahrenheit), marked the first grass court final of Osaka’s career. Osaka struggled with the injury throughout the opening set, losing the first three games before taking a brief medical timeout. Despite treatment, she was visibly hampered and eventually informed the umpire she could not continue.

“I want to say thank you to everyone who came to the match and I want to apologize for not being able to finish,” Osaka said on court. “Congratulations to Karolina. You’re one of the coolest girls on tour and it’s always really fun to play you. I hope you have the best of luck in Wimbledon.”

Muchova, 29, who previously won the Qatar Open in February and reached the Stuttgart WTA final in April, expressed satisfaction with her performance during the week. “It couldn’t have been a better week for me here in Bad Homburg, or maybe if it was 10 degrees less it could have been better,” she commented.

This victory, which took just 46 minutes, marks Muchova’s third WTA Tour title and her first at the WTA 500 level on grass. She converted three of four break points against Osaka, who had been broken only five times in four matches leading up to the final. The win will also propel Muchova back into the top 10 of the WTA rankings, rising to ninth when the list updates on Monday.

Osaka, a two-time winner at the Australian Open and US Open, had been seeking her first title since 2021 and her debut grass court championship in the lead-up to Wimbledon. She acknowledged the strong support from the crowd during the tournament, noting, “This atmosphere was incredible throughout the week.”

Wimbledon is set to begin on Monday, with Muchova seeded 10th and Osaka 14th at the Grand Slam event.