Naomi Osaka receives a walkover at the Miami Open after her opponent Karolina Muchova withdraws through injury

Naomi Osaka has received a walkover at the Miami Open after her opponent Karolina Muchova was forced to withdraw from the WTA 1000 tournament. Muchova was unable to compete in the match due to a left abdominal injury picked up on Saturday.

Ad/> It means Osaka is into the fourth round of Miami Open for the second year running and will play either Ann Li or Alison Riske next. Tennis‘We can’t begin to understand how it’s affecting them‘ — Evert on Medvedev and Russian playersYESTERDAY AT 07:07 Osaka reached the quarter-finals of the tournament last year in what was her best ever result at the tournament in Florida.

Muchova and the four-time Grand Slam winner were due to play each other for the third time in their careers with their head-to-head record tied on 1-1. Muchova beat Osaka the last time to two met at the Madrid Masters in May last year 6-4 3-6 6-1.

'Very tricky' Watson falls to Olympic champion Bencic in straight sets 'It is unfair' — Raducanu hits back at critics who say she is not focused on tennis Following her withdrawal, Muchova — who knocked out US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez in the second round — wrote on Twitter: «I'm sad that I cannot put up a battle against Naomi today. »After a long break from tennis, 2 tough matches in row have been a lot for my body and I need longer to recover.

«Was nice to be part of the Miami Open again! I will be back on clay!» /> Osaka beat Angelique Kerber 6-2 6-3 in a battle between two Grand Slam champions in the last-64 having already overcome Australian Astra Sharma 6-3 6-4 in the first round. Italy's Lucia Bronzetti is also through to the fourth round via a walkover as Russia's Anna Kalinskaya withdrew thanks to a left arm injury Bronzetti will face Australian wildcard