Caroline Wozniacki, Angelique Kerber Pull Out Of Events; Venus Williams Wins In Stanford Opener
Former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki had to retire with an arm injury in her match with Sam Stosur in Washington on Wednesday. Wozniacki led 7-5, 3-4 before stopping due to the injury she first felt at 5-5.
“I just hit a backhand and felt this sharp pain,” Wozniacki said. “It just got worse after that. Every time I’d hit a backhand I’d feel the pain.”
Wozniacki has been dinged by injuries for much of 2016 including an ankle injury which forced her out of the French Open.
“At this point I just can’t catch a break,” Wozniacki said. “It’s just one thing after the other.
“I feel like I’m hitting pretty well and I’m serving well, and then this happens.”
The Dane hasn’t made a semifinal since Auckland and has gone just 5-5 in her last 10 matches. The 26-year-old is down to No. 58 in the rankings.
Today, Kristina Mladenovic meets Sabine Lisicki and Monica Puig battles Lauren Davis.
Wozniacki wasn’t the only high-profile retirement on the WTA. In Bastad, Australian Open champion and Wimbledon finalist Angelique Kerber had to pull out before her match today against Lara Arruabarrena due to an elbow issue.
“Yesterday during the match my elbow started to give me pain and I was hoping that overnight all the treatment that I got last night and this morning would make it better,” the top-seeded Kerber said. “But I was practicing this morning and I was not feeling 100% and it’s still painful so that’s why I decided not to risk it and why I’m withdrawing.”
She now hopes to be ready for Canada and the rest of the summer hardcourts. “I will try to go and see my doctor now and to my physios also, and try to get as fit as possible and make as fast as recover as I can. We will see in the next days how it works.”
Kerber’s withdrawal leaves No. 2 seed Sara Errani as the tournament favorite.
In Stanford, 2-time champion Venus Williams made a successful start to the summer hardcourts with a 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-2 win over Magda Linette.
Venus, who won the title in 2000 and 2002, made her pro debut at Stanford back in 1994!
Johanna Konta and Misaki Doi were also winners.
Dominika Cibulkova, CC Bellis and Coco Vandewege headline play in Stanford today.
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