Making her tournament debut at the Bad Homburg Open in Germany, Karolina Muchova captured the third title of her career from nine tour-level finals—and her first on grass—after Naomi Osaka retired in the second set of Saturday’s final.
Down a double break and trailing Muchova 3-0, Osaka took a medical timeout for a right foot issue. The Japanese returned to the court and played five more games, but with Muchova extending her lead to 6-1 1-0, the four-time Grand Slam champion ultimately decided she could not continue and retired from the match. The final had been moved forward by 2½ hours, to 11 a.m. local time, in an effort to avoid the worst of the day’s heat as much of Europe endures scorching summer temperatures.
It was 11th-ranked Muchova’s third career title from nine tour-level finals and her first on grass. The Czech’s previous WTA singles titles came at Seoul in 2019, where she defeated Magda Linette in the final, and Doha in 2026, where she beat Victoria Mboko for the trophy.
At Bad Homburg, she overcame Irina-Camelia Begu in the second round before defeating Clara Tauson to reach the first Tour-level grass-court semifinal of her career. She then beat Elena-Gabriela Ruse to advance to her maiden final on the surface.
In doubles, Vera Zvonareva and Aldila Sutjiadi defeated Ellen Perez and Demi Schuurs 6-1 4-6 10-5 to be crowned champions at the Bad Homburg Open. Impressively, Zvonareva, who will turn 42 in September, returns to the Top 20 of the doubles rankings with this title.
