(Paris) The Kazakh Elena Rybakina, seeded N.3, visibly unwell, was forced to retire in 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 4th player in the world, 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 (19th), a 34-year-old former world number one, will face the winner of the match on Saturday between her compatriot Aryna Sabalenka, seeded N.2, and Russian Anna Kalinskaya (24th).