Britain’s Emma Raducanu retired at 6-0 5-7 in her second-round match in opposition to Slovakian Viktoria Kuzmova on the WTA 250 Auckland Classic on Thursday after rolling her ankle, casting doubt on her participation at this month’s Australian Open.
Former U.S. Open champion Raducanu swept the primary set in 22 minutes however faltered within the second and had her left ankle examined throughout a medical time-out earlier than leaving court docket in tears after being unable to finish the primary level of the decider.
The Australian Open begins on Jan. 16.
Earlier, Coco Gauff beat fellow American Sofia Kenin 6-4 6-4 to arrange a quarter-final in opposition to China’s Zhu Lin, who outlasted Venus Williams 3-6 6-2 7-5 in a rain-hit match that ran two hours and 23 minutes.
Williams, 42, served for the match at 5-4 within the last set however Zhu broke after which fended off 4 break factors earlier than closing out the victory.
At the Adelaide International 1 WTA 500 occasion, twice Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka noticed off Zheng Qinwen 6-2 7-5 to achieve the quarter-finals alongside unseeded duo Irina-Camelia Begu and Linda Noskova.
China’s Zheng, who was named WTA Newcomer of the Year in 2022, despatched down 10 aces and 34 winners but in addition made 35 unforced errors on the Australian Open warm-up occasion.
“She’s a great talent,” mentioned former world primary Azarenka. “I feel like she’s going to be a really, really good player.
“I thought that I stuck to my game plan pretty well today … I was consistent, I was taking my chances when I could. I kept creating more chances. I was a lot more aggressive, a bit more comfortable today on court.”
Belarusian Azarenka subsequent faces Czech teenager Noskova, who adopted up her first-round upset of Daria Kasatkina with a 6-2 6-2 win over fellow qualifier Clair Liu.
Romanian Begu reached the quarters with a 6-3 6-0 upset of Latvian seventh seed Jelena Ostapenko, who made 41 unforced errors in an erratic show.
Begu received 11 straight video games to overturn a 3-1 first-set deficit and wrap up the win in 73 minutes. She will tackle fourth seed Veronika Kudermetova for a spot within the semi-finals.
Ons Jabeur, who got here near profitable a maiden Grand Slam as she completed runner-up at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open final 12 months, battled by means of the opening set to beat Sorana Cirstea 7-6(3) 6-1 and arrange a quarter-final with Marta Kostyuk in Adelaide.
“(Cirstea) is a great player, she pushed me to do better and better in the first set,” Jabeur mentioned.
The second-ranked Tunisian additionally outlined her targets for the 12 months, saying, “I want the number one spot, I want to win Grand Slams.”