The reigning Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova was forced to retire in the Berlin Ladies Open second round due to injury to her right hip. Anna Kalinskaya trailed Vondrousova 5-3 in the first set before the World No.6 ranked player slipped and fell after a split-step at the start of the ninth game. Off-court medical treatment allowed her briefly to return, but she conceded the set at 5-5.
Now, less than two weeks to recover, Vondrousova stands in a race against time to regain full fitness for her Wimbledon title defense starting July 1.
Anna Kalinskaya went one step further and booked her place in the quarterfinals, awaiting the winner between No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka and Daria Kasatkina.
The day was more propitious for 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, seeded No.3. She withstood an early setback in the second set and defeated Veronika Kudermetova, 6-4, 7-5, in her opening match of the tournament.
Rybakina will face former World No.1 Victoria Azarenka on Friday, going into her 10th quarterfinal of the season. A win would mean her first grass-court semifinal since winning Wimbledon. She put a lot of pressure on Kudermetova throughout, fashioning 11 break points while her opponent had a look at just three against her own serve, breaking for the first time in the first set at 5-4 to take control. A final break in the second was enough to send her through to the last eight for the first time.
On the balance, Rybakina struck 18 winners - five of them aces - with 16 unforced errors, and she did enough by capitalizing on many of Kudermetova's mistakes.
Leveling the head-to-head with Kudermetova at 5-0, Rybakina will now look to extend her undefeated streak over Azarenka to 5-0 in what is going to be a test of strengths quarterfinal.
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