Britain’s Emma Raducanu retired at 6-0 5-7 in her second-round match against Slovakian Viktoria Kuzmova at the WTA 250 Auckland Classic on Thursday after rolling her ankle, casting doubt on her participation at this month’s Australian Open.
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Former U.S. Open champion Raducanu swept the first set in 22 minutes but faltered in the second and had her left ankle examined during a medical time-out before leaving court in tears after being unable to complete the first point of the decider.
“I’ve put a lot of physical work in the last few months and I’ve been feeling good and optimistic,” Raducanu was quoted as saying by Stuff Media.
“So to be stopped by a freak injury, rolling an ankle is pretty disappointing, in the first week as well. I thought I was playing some pretty decent tennis.
“The courts are incredibly slick, like very slippery, so to be honest it’s not a surprise that this happened to someone … we’ll assess over the next few days and see what the next steps are.”
The Australian Open begins on Jan. 16.
Earlier, Coco Gauff beat fellow American Sofia Kenin 6-4 6-4 to set up a quarter-final against China’s Zhu Lin, who outlasted Venus Williams 3-6 6-2 7-5 in a rain-hit match that ran two hours and 23 minutes.
Williams, 42, served for the match at 5-4 in the final set but Zhu broke and then fended off four break points before closing out the victory.