Angelique Kerber’s preparations for this year’s opening Grand Slam were dealt a blow yesterday when she was forced to retire from the Adelaide International with back pain.
The German former world No. 1, who won the Australian Open in 2016, pulled out when behind 6-3, 2-0 in her second-round clash with Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska.
The ninth seed began showing serious signs of the back problem early in the second set, then stopped after two points in the third game on her own serve, calling for the trainer.
Photo: AFP
An on-court medical evaluation ended with the 31-year-old world No. 18 calling it quits against her teenaged opponent.
Yastremska kept calm during the delay, reading what she called “secret” notes.
“I didn’t want to lose focus,” said the world No. 24, who has won three titles over the past two seasons.
Women’s top seed Ashleigh Barty got an opponent for today after Marketa Vondrousova hammered Australia’s Arina Rodionova 6-0, 6-0 in 52 minutes.
Second seed Simona Halep is to take on Aryna Sabalenka after the Belarusian booked her spot 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 over American qualifier Bernarda Pera.
Swiss wild-card Belinda Bencic, the fourth seed, struggled with frustration, but emerged a 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/4) winner over Julia Goerges and next plays Danielle Collins, who put out seventh seed Sofia Kenin 6-3, 6-1.
Croatian Donna Vekic rallied past Maria Sakkari of Greece 2-6, 7-5, 6-1, winning in two hours and overcoming six aces to reach a quarter-final against Yastremska.
In men’s play, Russian Andrey Rublev, who won the Qatar Open over the weekend, beat American Sam Querrey 6-3, 6-3 to move into a last-eight clash against Britain’s Dan Evans.
Rublev, who missed six weeks last year with a wrist injury, improved to a perfect 5-0 for the season.
“It’s important that I have mental confidence,” Rublev said. “One day you still can play so good, the other day can be not that good.”
Rublev’s win in Doha moved him up to world No. 18.
“It’s an amazing feeling to be top 20 for the first time, but there are still so many things that I can improve,” he said.
In the men’s singles, second seed Felix Auger-Aliassime converted on the first of six match points, firing a service winner to complete a 6-3, 7-6 (7/0) victory over Australian James Duckworth.
The 19-year-old Canadian set up a quarter-final against a second straight Aussie wild-card, Alex Bolt, who defeated German seventh seed Jan-Lennard Struff 6-3, 6-4.
“He pushed me to bring good shots when I needed them,” Auger-Aliassime said of Duckworth. “He had chances in the second set, but I got myself to the tiebreaker — from there I played fantastic tennis.”
Fourth seed Pablo Carreno Busta started with a 6-3, 6-2 defeat of Frenchman Jeremy Chardy. South African qualifier Lloyd Harris also advanced to the quarters with a 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 win over Laslo Djere.
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