Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova yesterday withdrew from the Adelaide International, citing a right hip injury, five days before the Australian Open is to start in Melbourne.
The No. 7-ranked Vondrousova pulled out of the tournament hours before her scheduled first-round match against Russian qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich.
Taylor Townsend of the US took her place in the draw and won 6-3, 7-6 (7/4).
Photo: AP
In other games, sixth seed Jelena Ostapenko was broken while serving for the match at 5-2 in the third set and missed two match points in the next game before finally fending off Sorana Cirstea 2-6, 6-2, 6-4.
The 2017 French Open champion next faces Caroline Garcia, who beat local wild-card entry Taylah Preston 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.
“I feel like I was sleeping in the first set,” Ostapenko said. “I’m not a morning person; I needed time to get into the match. When I start to take time and be a bit more calm, I play better.”
Czech qualifier Katerina Siniakova upset former No. 1-ranked Karolina Pliskova 6-2, 6-1, winning 10 consecutive games after dropping serve early.
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Sloane Stephens was broken while serving for the match and then lost 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7/5) to No. 73-ranked Chinese qualifier Yuan Yue.
Stephens was coming off a second-round exit last week at the Brisbane International, her first tournament since September.
Sixth seed Sofia Kenin opened with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Greet Minnen, while No. 9 seed Tatjana Maria was leading 6-1, 4-3 when Nadia Podoroska retired.
In the women’s doubles, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and partner Giuliana Olmos of Mexico advanced to the quarter-finals with a 6-1, 6-3 win over US pair Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sophie Chang.
On Monday, Wu Fang-hsien of Taiwan and Russia’s Yana Sizikova exited the tournament, beaten 7-5, 1-6, 10-6 by Argentina’s Nadia Podoroska and Mayar Sherif of Egypt.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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