Caroline Wozniacki has suffered another blow after retiring during her match against Sam Stosur in the second round of the Citi Open.
The former world No.1 was leading the match 7-5, 4-3, before severe pain in her left arm resulted in her withdrawing from the match. It is the latest injury setback for Wozniacki after she missed the entire clay court season with an ankle injury.
“There was a point where I hit a backhand and I just felt it, and I was like ‘Oh, it’s nothing’,” Wozniacki said about her latest injury.
“But then I hit another backhand and I was like, ‘OK, it’s something.’ And it just got worse”
It is understood that Wozniacki’s pain began during the end of the first set. As the match progressed she was visibly uncomfortable on the court with the Dane having difficulty hitting on her backhand side.
“I could hit a forehand and run a lot of balls down,” Wozniacki said.
“She kept hitting to my forehand. As soon as I got a backhand there was a rush of pain.
“At that point, there was nothing I could do.” She later added.
Wozniacki’s retirement comes just 15 days before the start of the Olympic Games, where she is expected to carry her country’s flag during the Olympic ceremony.
Top seed Stosur will now play American wildcard Jessica Pegula in the quarter-finals. The Australian is bidding to win her first title of the year and her first title in North America since the 2013 Carlsbad Open. Shortly after her Tuesday match, Stosur hit out at organizers for their scheduling of the women’s matches. The Citi Open is hosting both women’s and men’s tournaments this week.
“I notice there’s not too many matches on centre court for the women, unfortunately,” she said about the scheduling of matches.
“It’d be nice if we were kind of 50-50 on centre court, that’s for sure.”
Stosur’s opponent Pegula reached the last eight of a WTA tournament for the first time in her career after defeating Christina McHale 7-5, 6-2.
Another player to seal her place in the quarter-finals was sixth seed Yanina Putintseva. The Kazakh player battled her way past Wimbledon girls’ doubles champion Usue Maitane Arconada 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, after over two hours on the court. She will now play in her fifth WTA quarter-final of the season.
Finally, seventh seed Yanina Wickmayer enjoyed a more comfortable encounter against China’s Shuai Zhang. Despite dropping her serve three times in the match, the Belgian managed to defeat Zhang 6-3, 7-5, in just 84 minutes.
Note:- Vishal Gajaria also contributed to this article
