Italian top seed Sara Errani reached the last eight of the Paris Open without breaking sweat when her Slovak opponent Magdalena Rybarikova retired with a viral illness when trailing 4-0 in the first set on Thursday.
“I didn’t know my opponent was sick, but I hope she recovers soon,” Errani said.
The Italian has a chance to avenge her Australian Open defeat by quarter-final opponent, Carla Suarez Navarro, who pulled off a surprise by beating Errani in the opening round of the year’s first Grand Slam in Melbourne last month.
“The next match is going to be interesting because I know Carla very well and she beat me at the Australian Open,” world No. 7 Errani said.
“I like this surface and I just want to keep playing my game, and we will see how it goes tomorrow,” the 25-year-old from Bologna said.
Spain’s Suarez Navarro defeated eighth-seeded Czech Klara Zakopalova 6-4, 6-3 on Thursday.
Dutch lucky loser Kiki Bertens blasted five aces in a 7-5, 6-4 win over fourth-seeded Slovak Dominika Cibulkova as the 21-year-old reached her first quarter-final.
Sixth-seeded Czech Lucie Safarova, twice a runner-up in Paris, beat France’s Alize Cornet 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 and faces Bertens for a semi-final spot.
French wildcard Kristina Mladenovic downed Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium 6-4, 6-4.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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