Injured Federer, Osaka pull out of Italian Open

Roger Federer has pulled out of his Italian Open quarter-final clash against Stefanos Tsitsipas due to an injury in his right leg, organisers said on Friday.

The 37-year-old Swiss, who was making a return to the European clay court season after two years away, won back-to-back matches against Joao Sousa and Borna Coric to reach the quarter-finals on Thursday.

Earlier, World No 1 Naomi Osaka pulled out of the Italian Open quarter-finals on Friday with a right thumb injury, casting doubts over her participation in this month's French Open.

The 21-year-old Japanese was scheduled to face sixth seed Kiki Bertens after coming through two matches on Thursday in the rain-affected tournament but said she was forced to withdraw due to pain and swelling at the base of her thumb.

"I woke up this morning and couldn't really move my thumb," Osaka told reporters.

"I tried to practise and grip my racket but I couldn't, and I kept feeling this pain when I tried to move my hand in different directions.

"Right now I'm... in between sad and disappointed because I really wanted to play my match today. For me, it was sort of a test to play against Kiki because she's playing really well and I wanted to see how well I could do today.

"I didn't feel anything yesterday. That's why I'm kind of confused right now because I literally woke up in the morning and couldn't move my thumb. So I was like, maybe I slept on it and maybe it will go away, but it didn't."