Top seed Samantha Stosur advanced to the quarter-finals of the Citi Open in Washington after her opponent Caroline Wozniacki retired hurt midway through the match.
Wozniacki, a former World No. 1, appeared well on course to cause an upset as she took the opening set 7-5. However, towards the end of the set, the Dane took a medical time-out after feeling some pain in her left arm, encumbering her from hitting the backhands smoothly.
Even as Wozniacki continued playing thereafter, her injury seemed to have aggravated at 3-4 in the second set, when she decided to retire from the match.
“I just hit a backhand and felt this sharp pain. It just got worse after that. Every time I’d hit a backhand I’d feel the pain,” the 26-year-old was quoted as saying by wtatennis.com.
As for Stosur, she marches on to the last-eight stage, where she will meet World No. 173 Jessica Pegula, who got the better of fellow American Christina McHale 7-5 6-2.
In the other second-round matches, sixth seed Yulia Putintseva prevailed over Usue Maitane Arconda 6-4 4-6 6-4, whereas seventh seed Yanina Wickmayer clinched a 6-3 7-5 conquest of Shuai Zhang.
Elsewhere, Kristina Mladenovic, the No. 4 seed, began her campaign with a hard-fought 6-2 2-6 6-3 victory against local wildcard Samantha Crawford in the opening round.
