[ad_1]
Emma Raducanu was in tears after retiring due to an injured ankle at the ASB Classic, less than two weeks before the start of the Australian Open.
The Briton cruised through the first set of her last 16 match against Slovakia’s Viktoria Kuzmova, winning 6-0 in just 20 minutes.
Raducanu faced more challenges in the second set, and received treatment on his left ankle near the end, before breaking down in tears at the start of the third set.
He was broken at 2-2 and fell 4-2 in the second set, but broke again in the 10th game of the set to level at 5-5. The Englishman broke again in the next game, but not before losing the second set 7-5.
During the match, Raducanu was called to the pitch by the coach to stretch his left ankle during a long medical break.
He tried to play but could not finish the first game of the third set, admitting he could not continue.
Raducanu was marked as one of the hottest tennis stars when he won the US Open in 2021. His career began to suffer from injuries. He retired from his fourth game in 2022 and most recently had to deal with a wrist injury.
Kuzmova will face Montenegro’s Danka Kovinic in the quarter-finals, after the latter beat American Lauren Davis in three sets 4-6 6-3 6-2 to advance.
Please use Chrome browser for more accessible video player
Relive Emma Raducanu’s incredible victory at the US Open 2021. The tournament will return to Sky Sports in 2023.
Elsewhere, Venus Williams blew a 5-3 lead in the final set in a match that lasted almost seven hours due to rain as she lost to China’s Zhu Lin 3-6, 6-2, 7-5.
The 42-year-old Williams fought through every moment of the second round match which started after noon and ended close to 19:00, which started outdoors and ended indoors, and which contained 13 service breaks before finally tipping in favor of Zhu in the last few. games.
Seven-time Grand Slam champion Williams, in her 30th year on the WTA Tour, won her first tour match in almost two years when she beat Katie Volynets on Saturday in the first round of the Auckland tournament. They have played just four matches in 2022 and hope to progress to the second round of the tournament for the first time since 2019.
American top seed Coco Gauff will face Zhu in the quarter-finals after a 6-4, 6-4 win over compatriot Sofia Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open champion.
Seventh-ranked Gauff also had to play indoors and beat Kenin in just 90 minutes, extending his head-to-head record after Kenin defeated Gauff en route to the Australian Open title.
Seventh-seeded Danka Kovinic beat former champion Lauren Davis 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 and qualifier Rebeka Masarova defeated Anna Blinkova 6-1, 6-4.
[ad_2]
Source link