Carla Suárez Navarro advanced to the final four in New Haven under unfortunate circumstances as Petra Kvitova retired shortly after the first set with an arm injury.
Suárez Navarro won that opening set 6-3 before Kvitova called for the trainer, who evaluated the No. 3 seed and began treatment. But Kvitova could be heard telling the trainer that she’d “rather retire,” then walked over to Suárez Navarro’s chair and announced her departure from the tournament.
“I’m sad for her because I have a good relationship with her,” Suárez Navarro said on court. “But she wants to play good for the US Open, so it’s normal. I was playing aggressive; I tried to move the ball quickly.”
Indeed, the Spaniard had started strongly. She jumped ahead 0-40 on Kvitova’s serve at 1-2, then converted the third break point chance when the world No. 5 double faulted. Suárez Navarro faced no break points until serving for the set at 5-4; she brushed it aside and secured the set with a big serve on her third set point.
Kvitova, meanwhile, hit 13 winners in the opening frame but struggled against Suárez Navarro’s ability to mix speeds and return dozens of balls. She saw the trainer for a second straight night, but apparently had more severe problems on Thursday, sparking concerns for the US Open next week.
It marked an unusual road to a first 2018 semifinal for the 29-year-old Spaniard. She won her opening match on Sunday, then received a walkover from Johanna Konta in the second round. She will face Monica Puig in Friday’s second semifinal.
Puig survived a rollercoaster match against Caroline Garcia, handing the No. 2 seed a 7-5, 1-6, 6-2 victory in two hours and 11 minutes and setting up w. Puig roared from a 5-2 deficit in the first set, looked lost in the second and then built a seemingly insurmountable 5-0 lead in the final frame before a brief dip in form.
But Puig broke Garcia for a sixth time on match point, closing a match in which each player won an even 92 points. They were near deadlocked statistically, but the Olympic champion staved off more break points and better capitalized on Garcia’s lulls.
The most impressive of those came in the first set, when Garcia came two points from the set at 5-2 and served for it in the next game. Puig battled back, however, setting up the whiplash of the final sets.
