World No. 1 Iga Swiatek retired, visibly injured in the right knee, during the third set of her quarter-final against world No. 6 Elena Rybakina in Rome on Wednesday evening, ten days before Roland-Garros (May 28-June 11). ).
Swiatek gave up going two-across games in the deciding set, after winning the first 6-2 and losing the second in a tiebreaker, 7 points to 3. It was during the tiebreak, on a run in defensive position, 5 points to 3, that the 21-year-old Pole obviously felt pain in her knee.
Simple precaution approaching Roland-Garros, of which she is the trophy holder, or more serious injury? We will have to wait to find out more.
Swiatek looked set for yet another safe victory when she escaped 6-2, 4-2. But the Kazakh, who definitely did not succeed, found the resources to get back into the game and equalize in one round everywhere, beyond midnight.
The world No. 1 had until then had a season on clay, her favorite surface, almost ideal, with a title in Stuttgart (Germany) and a final in Madrid, lost against world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka.
“I saw something happened in the tiebreak, almost on the last point, but I didn’t know how serious it was. The first two games (of the third set) she picked up really aggressively, so I figured she couldn’t really move much. »
Swiatek was a two-time defending champion in the Italian capital.
For a place in the final, Rybakina will face the Latvian Jelena Ostapenko (20th), she winner of Roland-Garros in 2017. The other semi-final will oppose the Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina (47th) and the Russian Veronika Kudermetova (12th).
2023-05-17 22:51:00
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