Fritz storms into Masters third round

Dimitrov also reaches third round by beating Belgium's Zizou Bergs.

SHANGHAI:

World number seven Taylor Fritz finally made it into the third round of the Shanghai Masters on Monday, two days after his match against France's Terence Atmane had been suspended because of rain.

Resuming at 4-3 in the first set, Fritz defeated 161st-ranked Atmane 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/5).

"I thought he played really well and if I wasn't on top of my game... I definitely could have lost that match," said Fritz.

"I just stayed with it, and played solid in a lot of the big moments." Fritz will next face Japanese qualifier Yosuke Watanuki.

World number 10 Grigor Dimitrov also managed to finish a delayed match on Monday, beating Belgium's Zizou Bergs 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 and the Bulgarian will meet Australia's Alexei Popyrin in the third round.

"It's been very challenging the last couple of days," Dimitrov said.

"But we just have to make the most out of what we have." American Frances Tiafoe ended Chinese hopes when he defeated Zhou Yi 6-2, 6-4.

"(Zhou) played a good match, obviously it seemed pretty one-sided, but the second set was very tough," said Tiafoe after beating the last home player remaining in the draw.

In the third round, Tiafoe will meet Russian Roman Safiullin, who he called a "super dark horse".

"He can beat a lot of guys... He's had an up-and-down season, but he's capable," said Tiafoe.

Nine second-round matches have been delayed or rescheduled because of rain at the weekend.

The bad weather continued on Monday, causing further havoc to the schedule with play suspended on outside courts.

Osaka pulls out of Japan Open with back injury

Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka on Monday pulled out of her home Japan Open next week because of an injury that caused her to retire from the China Open in Beijing.

"Due to injury, Naomi Osaka will not participate" in the WTA 250 tournament in the city of Osaka from October 14-20, the Japan Tennis Association said in a statement.

The 26-year-old former world number one looked in good touch as she recorded three wins at the China Open in Beijing last week.

But in her last-16 match, against eventual champion Coco Gauff, Osaka retired at the end of the second set because of a back injury.

"So I locked my back up during practice earlier and honestly wasn't sure if I could even play but I just wanted to try," she said on social media. "Unfortunately things just got progressively worse during the match."

Osaka's last WTA tournament appearance in her home country was a fleeting one, two years ago at the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo.

She won a first-round match after one game when opponent Daria Saville retired.

Osaka then withdrew with abdominal pains before her second-round match.

It was her last tournament before taking leave to give birth to her daughter Shai in July 2023.

Osaka returned to the tour in January this year but has struggled to recapture the form that saw her win two Australian and two US Opens between 2018 and 2021.