Top seed Simona Halep has pulled out of her quarter-final match at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy due to a knee injury.
The world No.4 was set to play Russia’s Natalia Vikhlyantseva before withdrawing Friday morning. Halep has been troubled by an issue regarding her knee since the start of the season.Following her second round win over Ana Konjuh at the tournament, she was cautiously optimistic about the injury.
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Last month the 25-year-old revealed she has been troubled by tendonitis in her knee in recent months. Halep confirmed the problem shortly after she suffered a shock first round exit at the Australian Open for the second consecutive year.
“Every day I had pain,” she said during the Australian Open. “But offseason was okay. I didn’t feel much. But then in China, the first match, end of the first match, I felt it. Here (in Melbourne) I had every day pain.”
Despite suffering the problem, Halep is confident that she will not need to undergo any surgery to correct the issue.
“No, no, surgery,” she told reporters. “Not that bad. I need MRI again, and just maybe take some rest and physiotherapy to get it well.
“I’m a bit frustrated, but you cannot change much. I’m okay. Just looking ahead. It happens, and I just want to be well with the knee.And then I will think about the game.”
Due to Halep’s withdrawal, 19-year-old Vikhlyantseva has progressed to her first semi-final on the WTA Tour. The Russian had already knocked out eighth seed Daria Kasatkina in straight sets. She will play either Kristina Mladenovic or Roberta Vinci in the last four. Regardless of the outcome of her next match, Vikhlyantseva is set to break the top 100 in the WTA rankings for the first time in her career.
It is unclear if Halep’s withdrawal will have any impact on her Fed Cup commitment. She is set to headline Romania’s tie against Belgium at the Sala Polivalenta in Bucharest. The two-day tie will get underway on February 11th.
