大坂が初戦突破、相手の負傷棄権に「とても怖かった」　東レＰＰＯ

【東京ＡＦＰ＝時事】女子テニス、東レ・パンパシフィック・オープンは２０日、シングルス１回戦が行われ、前回女王の大坂なおみはダリア・サビル（オーストラリア）の途中棄権により初戦を突破した。負傷の場面について、大坂は「とても怖かった」と明かした。（写真は女子テニス、東レ・パンパシフィック・オープン、シングルス１回戦。負傷したダリア・サビル（左）を心配する大坂なおみ）
　世界ランキング５５位のサビルは、第１セットの第２ゲームでフォアハンドのクロスを打った際に左膝を負傷し、開始わずか７分で棄権した。
　サビルが「膝が」と叫んで苦痛でコートに倒れ込むと、大坂も反対側のコートから駆け寄って様子を確かめた。サビルはその後数分にわたって治療を受け、立ち上がってベンチまで歩いて戻ったが、何度かフットワークを確かめた後で棄権を決めた。
　自身も今季けがに苦しんできた大坂は、相手のことを思うと「本当に悲しい」と話し、「最初はフォアがアウトになってただ叫んでいるだけだと思ったが、痛みで叫んでいるのだと気づいた」とコメント。「とても怖かった。私たちアスリートはすごく痛みに強いはず。だからかなりひどい負傷に思えた」と明かした。
　大坂はサビルについて、「よくなる」と思うと話し、彼女は「ファイター」だと続けた。また、「今はまだ、勝ったのが少し変な感じ。勝った気がしない」とも認めた。
　２２日の２回戦では、大会第５シードのベアトリース・ハダード・マイア（ブラジル）と対戦する。今大会は新型コロナウイルスのパンデミック（世界的な大流行）の影響で３年ぶりの開催となり、大坂は前回２０１９年大会の女王。直近３大会は１回戦敗退に終わるなど、今季は苦しい戦いが続く元世界１位だが、この大会でスランプ脱出を狙う。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/09/21-13:42）

Naomi Osaka said she felt really scared after watching opponent Daria Saville collapse with a knee injury just seven minutes into their Pan Pacific Open match in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Australian Saville retired from their first-round encounter after hurting her left knee hitting a cross-court forehand in the second game of the match.
The world number 55 yelled out my knee before dropping to the ground in agony, and Osaka rushed over to her side of the court to check on her opponent.
Saville, 28, retired from the match after several minutes of treatment and Osaka, who has struggled with injury herself this year, said she felt really sad for her opponent.
I thought that she was just yelling because she thought her forehand was out, then I realised that she was yelling because she was in pain, said the former world number one, who is aiming to break a slump in form this week in Tokyo.
Then I got really scared because I felt like as athletes we have a pretty high pain tolerance. It seemed really bad.
Saville eventually got up and walked over to her chair, but she retired after testing her knee with several footwork exercises.
Osaka said she thought Saville was going to be OK, adding that she was a fighter.
Osaka, who was on break point at 30-40 in the second game after holding her serve in the first game, will play Brazil's Beatriz Haddad Maia in the second round on Thursday.
Right now, it still feels a bit weird that I just won a match -- I feel like I didn't win a match, said Osaka, who has lost in the first round at her last three tournaments.
I guess that I did and I'm progressing through the tournament. I'm not really thinking too much about the final right now.
Osaka is the defending Pan Pacific Open champion, although the tournament is being played for the first time since 2019 because of the pandemic.
Earlier in the day, 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin of the United States lost 7-6 (9/7), 6-4 to Mexican qualifier Fernanda Contreras Gomez in the first round.
Kenin also reached the French Open final in 2020 but she has since dropped to 315 in the world rankings after struggling with injury.
Number six seed Karolina Pliskova, a two-time Grand Slam finalist, beat Bulgarian qualifier Isabella Shinikova 6-2, 6-1.