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Naomi Osaka has withdrawn from the Australian Open hours before being due to play in the third round. The 16th seed was scheduled to play Maddison Inglis on Rod Laver Arena, but the Australian qualifier will now advance to the last 16.

Osaka posted on Instagram : "I've had to make the difficult decision to withdraw to address something my body needs attention for after my last match. I was so excited to keep going, and this run meant the most to me, so having to stop here breaks my heart, but I can't risk doing any further damage, so I can get back on the court.

"Thanks for all the love and support...I'm so grateful everyone embraced me so much. And thank you to my whole team for always having my back and the tournament organisers for being so kind."

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She has also told the media via Tennis Australia : "It's an injury I've had a couple of times before, and I thought I could push through it. I played my last match with some pain, and I thought maybe if I gave myself a break before my match today, I would be able to handle it, but I warmed up, and it got a lot worse.

"I definitely have to do more tests, and obviously, I think coming back from pregnancy, my body has changed quite a lot. So this is something I have to be really cautious of."

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The two-time champion Down Under's last match in Melbourne was against Sorana Cirstea, whom she beat 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 on Margaret Court Arena. Antonia Ruzic also took Osaka three sets (6-3, 3-6, 6-4) in the first round.

Japan's No. 1 has now withdrawn from her last two tournaments as an individual after also pulling out of her final event last year at the Japan Open. Osaka could not play a scheduled quarter-final with Jaqueline Cristian after sustaining a left thigh injury in a three-set second-round win against Suzan Lames.

For the first time in her career, she started this year by playing for Japan at the season-opening United Cup in Perth. Osaka played twice, losing in straight sets to Maria Sakkari of Greece before Britain's Katie Swan, who was a late replacement for Emma Raducanu.

However, she entered the tournament under the weather and coughed throughout her defeat to Sakkari. Osaka said: "I have been dealing with some health stuff, so I'm kind of just happy to be out here right now."

"It's not serious, but I'm not operating at the per cent that I want to be operating at, which kind of sucks, because I had a really good offseason, so I thought I was going to do really well here.

"I'm at the tail end of that, but still not amazing. I'm just trying to get better every day. I had a cough, a runny nose, like all that nasty stuff, so hopefully it goes away before the Australian Open."

Osaka said before the tournament: "I have high hopes for myself, obviously, in Melbourne. But I can only take it one day at a time and one match at a time. That's what I'm attempting to do now."