Simona Halep’s preparations for Wimbledon were cut short at the Topshelf Open on Wednesday as she retired from her second-round match against Germany’s Annika Beck with a shoulder injury.
Top seed Halep, who reached the final of the French Open, where she was narrowly defeated by Maria Sharapova, won the first set 7-5, but the defending champion pulled out trailing 2-3 in the second set.
The Romanian received treatment on her right shoulder before retiring and will be hoping for a swift recovery ahead of next week’s Grand Slam at the All England Club, where she is the third seed.
Fourth seed Carla Suarez Navarro was another injury casualty as the Spaniard was forced to retire with a back problem having lost the first set to China’s Zheng Jie, 7-5.
The seeds continued to fall on Wednesday as Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens, the sixth seed, succumbed to a 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 defeat against Ukrainian Elina Svitolina.
Klara Koukalova was the lone seeded player to advance to the quarter-finals on Wednesday after beating German qualifier Mona Barthel 6-2, 7-6 (8/6).
The eighth-seeded Czech joins seventh seed Garbine Muguruza, the highest-ranked player left in the draw, in the last eight and will face Yaroslava Shvedova for a place in the semis after the Kazakh beat Dutchwoman Michaella Krajicek 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/4).
World No. 27 Muguruza, who reached her first Grand Slam quarter-final at Roland Garros, will play Coco Vandeweghe as the American progressed following the third-set retirement of compatriot Vania King.
Fernando Verdasco is through to the men’s quarter-finals after seeing off Dutchman Jesse Huta Galung 7-5, 6-3.
The 23rd-ranked Spaniard, the top player in the draw, will face Juergen Melzer of Austria next after the eighth seed recovered from a set down to beat Slovak qualifier Lukas Lacko 5-7, 6-3, 6-3.
The next generation of running talent takes center stage at today’s Berlin Marathon, in the absence of stars including Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge and Ethiopian world record holder Tigist Assefa. With most of the major marathon stars skipping the event in the wake of the Paris Olympics just more than a month ago, the field is wide open in the men’s and women’s races. Since 2015, Kipchoge has won five times in Berlin, Kenenisa Bekele has won twice and Guye Adola once — with all three missing today. Kenyan Kibiwott Kandie and Ethiopian Tadese Takele are among the favourites for the men, while
Taiwan’s Tony Wu yesterday beat Mackenzie McDonald of the US to win the Nonthaburi Challenger IV in Thailand, his first challenger victory since 2022. The 26-year-old world No. 315, who won both his qualifiers to advance to the main draw, has been on a hot streak this month, winning his past nine matches, including two that ensured Taiwan’s victory in their Davis Cup World Group I tie. Wu took just more than two hours to top world No. 172 McDonald 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to win his second challenger tournament since the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger in 2022. Wu’s Tallahassee win followed two years of
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Nick Castellanos, Trea Turner and Kody Clemens homered on Wednesday as the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs 9-6 and clinched a first-round bye in the playoffs. Castellanos had three hits and scored three times. Bryson Stott also had three hits and Brandon Marsh drove in three runs for the Phillies, who on Monday claimed their first National League East title in 13 years. Coupled with the Milwaukee Brewers’ 2-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia secured the bye and home-field advantage in the NL Division Series. The Phillies owned the tiebreaker with the Brewers after winning the season series against the
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