(Paris) The Kazakh Elena Rybakina, seeded N.3, visibly unwell, was forced to retire from the first round of her quarter-final of the WTA 500 tournament in Berlin, Friday, against the Belarusian Victoria Azarenka.
The 2022 Wimbledon winner was trailing 3 games to 1 when she gave up: at 15 all, on her serve, she joined her bench, livid, before quickly leaving the Steffi-Graff court.
The 4e world player, aged 25, had already had to withdraw due to illness from the Rome tournament last month, just before Roland-Garros, where she still reached the quarter-finals.
At Wimbledon, she will try to return to the last four after losing last year to the Tunisian Ons Jabeur.
In the semi-final in Berlin, Azarenka (19e), former world number one aged 34, will face on Saturday the winner of the match between her compatriot Aryna Sabalenka, seeded N.2, and the Russian Anna Kalinskaya (24e).