Roger Federer and Naomi Osaka withdraw from Italian Open, nine days before French Open

Roger Federer and Naomi Osaka withdrew before their Italian Open quarter-finals because of injuries on Friday, nine days before Roland Garros.

Federer reported a right leg injury ahead of his match against Stefanos Tsitsipas, while Osaka said her right hand was injured before she was to play Kiki Bertens.

Federer and Osaka both won two matches on Thursday after play was backed up due to rain a day earlier.

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While Osaka won both of her matches in straight sets, the 37-year-old Federer had to work for more than two hours to overcome Borna Coric in his second match on court.

"I am disappointed that I will not be able to compete today. I am not 100 per cent physically and, after consultation with my team, it was determined that I not play," Federer said.

"Rome has always been one of my favourite cities to visit and I hope to be back next year."

It's only the fourth time in Federer's career he has had a walkover loss and the 20-time Grand Slam champion has never retired in 1,465 matches.

Federer was not originally planning to play in Rome but changed his schedule last week, saying he would rather play matches than practice ahead of the French Open, which starts on May 26.

Tsitsipas and Bertens advanced to the Italian Open semi-finals via walkover.

Osaka could not immediately say how serious the injury was, or if it will affect her status for Roland Garros. She was yet to see a doctor, but when she held her hand up for reporters to see, it was clearly swollen.

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

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

Osaka's win on Thursday guaranteed that she will remain No 1 going into the French Open.

"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," Osaka added.

"So I was like, 'Maybe I slept on it and maybe it will go away.' But it didn't."