In this July 23, 2021, file photo, Japan's Naomi Osaka holds the Olympic torch during the opening ceremony in the Olympic Stadium at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.(AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko, File)

       NEW YORK (Kyodo) -- Tennis star Naomi Osaka pledged her support for relief efforts in Haiti on Saturday following a deadly earthquake in the Caribbean country.

       Osaka, whose father is Haitian and mother is Japanese, said she would donate her prize money from the upcoming Western & Southern Open to help people affected by the magnitude-7.2 earthquake that struck Haiti earlier in the day.

       "Really hurts to see all the devastation that's going on in Haiti, and I feel like we really can't catch a break," Osaka tweeted.

       "I'm about to play a tournament this week and I'll give all the prize money to relief efforts for Haiti. I know our ancestors' blood is strong we'll keep rising."

       World No. 2 Osaka will enter from the second round of the Western & Southern Open, which begins Monday in Cincinnati.

       The 23-year-old returned to the court at the Tokyo Olympics late last month for the first time since withdrawing from the French Open in May.

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