Strasbourg International: Injury thwarts Bianca Andreescu's prospects

Bianca Andreescu and Jessica Pegula, the top two seeds at the Strasbourg International, exited the tournament in contrasting fashion on Tuesday.

Pegula, the second seed, crashed out in the opening round. The Netherlands’ Arantxa Rus ousted the American 6-4, 6-4 in an hour and 29 minutes. In the third round, Rus will face French wildcard Harmony Tan. Tan defeated Alison van Uytvanck in their second-round clash by the same score-line as Rus.

Meanwhile, Andreescu won her round-of-16 clash against qualifier Maryna Zanevska. The Canadian needed just 65 minutes to complete a 6-1, 6-4 win over the Belgian. However, in her post-match press conference, the world no. 7 announced that she would be withdrawing from the tournament after having sustained an injury to her abdomen and not wanting that injury to affect her chances at the French Open.

“I’m super happy with the win today. I will be pulling out of my next match, because I did feel a little bit of an ab tear, and I don’t want to push it at all for Roland Garros. I don’t want to take any risks. Nothing serious though. It’s a little discomfort,” Andreescu said.

Strasbourg International: Injury waylays Alize Cornet in 2R

After Andreescu’s withdrawal, the winner of the match between Sorana Cirstea and sixth seed Shuai Zhang will move into the semi-final in the top half of the draw.

The event had its second withdrawal after French player, Alize Cornet retired in her second-round match against eighth seed Magda Linette with a right hip injury. The Pole was leading 7-6(2), 3-0 at the time of Cornet’s retirement.

Speaking with the press after the result, Cornet said that she had been in pain since the first game but kept playing because she didn’t want to quit. “I felt a really sudden pain in the first game of the match, so it’s really unlucky. But you know me, I kept playing, I kept trying, and I was even in the position to win the [first] set. But every time I was running, it was quite difficult, and in the second set it got a little bit worse,” she said.

Seventh seed Shelby Rogers and qualifier Jule Niemeier will play for a quarter-final berth at the Strasbourg International. Rogers came through a tough opener against fellow American Christina McHale that lasted three hours and 23 minutes. Rogers won 7-5, 6-7(6), 7-5. The German, meanwhile, defeated fellow qualifier, France’s Diane Parry 6-4, 6-3 in an hour and 19 minutes.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3un70JF