'A jokeeeeee': Naomi Osaka, two other WTA players involved in another false fire alarm incident during Canadian Open

The Canadian Open is moving towards the business end. Both in the singles and doubles categories, players are now pushing to secure a spot in the quarterfinal and the semifinal of the tournament. Even though players' focus remains on what’s happening on the court, three players had to deal with an uncalled-for incident off the court, which left them disturbed.

America’s Taylor Townsend, Japan’s Naomi Osaka and Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic were all involved in a false fire-alarm incident at the hotel in Montreal. For some players, it was the second time in a week that they had to evacuate the hotel because of a false fire alarm.

All three players expressed their frustration in posts on the social media platform Instagram. “Bro this has been going since 4:30am… I’m blowed,” wrote Townsend. “I dont think I would smile if Bella was here this week,” Bencic wrote. “2nd Fire Alarm in a week,” she wrote in another post. Former world number one Osaka also expressed frustration. “POV: it’s the night before your match and the fire alarm tells you to evacuate so you grab your passport and go down 12 flights of stairs lol,” wrote Osaka. She then went on to share another post with a caption: “A jokeeeeee.”

Osaka and Townsend would have been hoping that the incident would not hamper their preparations for the upcoming matches. For Bencic, the incident came at the right time after she lost in the round of 32 to the Czech Republic’s Karolina Muchova with a score of 6-7, 6-2, 6-3. Townsend is featuring in the doubles category and has booked her spot in the semifinal of the event as she and her partner Zhang Shuai defeated the pair of Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and China’s Jiang Xinyu in straight sets with a score of 6-2, 6-1.

Osaka, on the other hand, cemented her spot in the round of 16 after beating Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko in straight sets with a score of 6-2, 6-4. Talking after the match, Osaka stated how she managed to get past an opponent whom she often referred to as her ‘favourite player’. "Granted, she broke me a couple of times," she said. "But she's a really good returner, so I can't take that personally ... I went in there knowing she's a great player, and if I give her a chance she's going to hit a winner on me, so I just tried to keep my pace and stay as solid as I could."

It is only the third time this year that Osaka has managed to cement a spot in the fourth round of an event. At the Miami Open in March, Osaka suffered a defeat to America’s Jessica Pegula at this stage of the competition with a score of 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. Later in the Rome Masters in May, Osaka was knocked out of the competition after losing to America’s Peyton Stearns with a score of 6-4, 3-6, 7-6.

Osaka will now be hoping to cement her spot in the quarterfinals of a WTA event for the third time in 2025. Interestingly, on both previous occasions, Osaka ended up playing in the final of an event whenever she managed to secure a spot in the quarterfinals this year. Osaka’s next round opponent will be another player from Latvia, Anastasija Sevastova. The 35-year-old has turned out to be a real surprise package of the competition as she secured her spot in the fourth round after beating number-three seed America’s Jessica Pegula in the round of 32 with a score of 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. It will be the sixth meeting between the players. In the previous five meetings, Osaka had an edge, where she emerged victorious on three occasions. However, this will be their first meeting at the highest level since 2019.