Pro tennis tours announce 1-day pause after Osaka's withdrawal in call for racial justice

The Western & Southern Open tennis tournament says it will not hold play on Thursday to take "a stance against racial inequality and social injustice that once again has been thrust to the forefront in the United States."

The men's and women's tournament says it will resume on Friday.

The U.S. Open is slated to start at the same venue on Monday.

Raonic is scheduled to play in the semifinals against No. 4 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece. He feels the men's and women's tours need to determine what actions to take in a hurry following the police shooting of Jacob Blake last weekend in Wisconsin.

Japan's Osaka pulled out of the women's semis during Raonic's 4-6, 7-6 (2), 7-5 win over Serbia's Filip Krajinovic on Wednesday.

"I think it's not about the three guys that are left in this tournament, I think it's about everybody being on the same page," Raonic said. "If four guys step up tomorrow but everything continues as normal on Monday when the U.S. Open starts, have we taken that next small step ...?"

Raonic said he considered dropping out of his quarter-final, but feels it will be a much stronger message if it comes from a larger group.

"I think to really make a difference, it has to be a banding together of athletes," Raonic said.

'Sick to my stomach'

Osaka announced she would not play in the women's semifinals to get "a conversation started in a majority white sport."

The last Top 10 seed in the women's bracket joined professional athletes in basketball, baseball and soccer in demanding change after Blake was shot by police.

Osaka tweeted that as a Black woman, she feels compelled to pull out of the tournament to put a focus on police shooting Black people.

"I don't expect anything drastic to happen with me not playing, but if I can get a conversation started in a majority white sport I consider that a step in the right direction," she tweeted. "Watching the continued genocide of Black people at the hand of the police is honestly making me sick to my stomach.

"I'm exhausted of having a new hashtag pop up every few days and I'm extremely tired of having this same conversation over and over again. When will it ever be enough?"

NBA, WNBA, Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer games were called off Wednesday as athletes demanded racial justice.

Raonic, from Thornhill, Ont., broke Krajinovic while he was serving for the match in the second set before taking the tiebreaker.

In the third set, Raonic fought off one match point on serve and then broke Krajinovic to go up 6-5. The Canadian then served out the match.

WATCH | Raonic squeaks by Krajinovic:

Milos Raonic survives Quarter-final scare from Filip Krajinović to advance to semis in Cincinnati

4 years ago

Duration 0:33

After dropping the first set, Milos Raonic battled back to take down Filip Krajinović in three sets, 4-6, 7-6(2), 7-5 to move on to the semi-finals at the Cincinnati Masters.

Osaka beat No. 12 Anett Kontaveit 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 on Wednesday afternoon. She was scheduled to play No. 14 Elise Mertens.

Victoria Azarenka will play eighth-seeded Johanna Konta in the other women's semifinal. Konta beat Maria Sakkari 6-4, 6-3, and Azarenka advanced in straight sets against Ons Jabeur.

Azarenka, who was No. 1 in 2012, acknowledged Wednesday that she had considered retiring at the start of the year. She's currently No. 59 but has reached her first semifinal since April 2019.

"In January, I didn't know if I was going to play at all," she said. "So end of January, I decided: You know what? I might try, last time, and see what happens."

In the men's bracket, top-ranked Novak Djokovic had no problems with his creaky neck or the swirling winds during a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Jan-Lennard Struff that was by far his best showing of the week.

So far, no rust at all after the long layoff from competitive tennis.

"Everything was worked on in the last six months, I had plenty of time," Djokovic said. "I worked on every single thing. It's great it's paying off so early after the break."

Djokovic moving on

Djokovic tested positive for COVID-19 after exhibition matches he organized in Serbia and Croatia in June with no social distancing.

In the semifinals, he'll face Roberto Bautista Agut, who knocked out defending champion Daniil Medvedev earlier in the day.

Medvedev failed to close it out in the second set, and Bautista Agut rallied for a 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory that eliminated yet another top player out of the tune-up tournament for the U.S. Open. Djokovic is the only player left in the tournament with an ATP Masters 1000 title to his credit.

Bautista Agut reached his third Masters semifinal and his first since 2016. He needed a set to adjust to the breezy, cooler conditions on court.

Medvedev hoisted the champion's Rookwood Pottery cup last year in Mason, Ohio, where the tournament is held annually. This year's event was moved to the U.S. Open site in Flushing Meadows because of pandemic precautions, creating a two-tournament event without spectators.

Tsitsipas also advanced to the semifinals when Reilly Opelka withdrew during the first set of their match Wednesday after getting treatment for an injured right knee.