(Adelaide) Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova withdrew from the Adelaide tournament on Tuesday due to a right hip injury, just five days before the Australian Open kicks off in Melbourne.
Vondrousova, the seventh-ranked player in the world, withdrew from the tournament just hours before her first-round match against Russian Aliaksandra Sasnovich.
American Taylor Townsend replaced her in the main draw and defeated Sasnovich 6-3, 7-6 (4) in an evening match.
Townsend had played doubles earlier and was receiving a massage when a message came in informing her that she was also going to play singles.
“It was crazy because I was in the trainer’s room getting a massage. I felt good and relaxed. I had already taken a shower and changed my clothes,” Townsend said. “You never know what might happen. It’s about always being ready. »
For her part, sixth seed Jelena Ostapenko was broken while serving for the match at 5-2 in the third set, and she dropped two match points in the next game before finally overcoming Sorana Cirstea 2-6, 6-2 and 6-4.
The 2017 French Open champion will face Caroline Garcia in the next round, who defeated Australian Taylah Preston 6-4, 1-6 and 6-3.
For her part, Czech Katerina Siniakova surprised former world No. 1 Karolina Pliskova 6-2, 6-1, winning 10 consecutive games after suffering a break of serve early in the match.
Two days after contributing to Germany’s conquest of the United Cup, Laura Siegemund took almost three hours to dispose of seventh seed Liudmila Samsonova 6-7 (1), 6-4 and 6-4.
In the men’s portion of the Adelaide tournament, Australian Jordan Thompson continued his momentum started last week when he ousted Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals of the Brisbane tournament by beating Facundo Diaz Acosta 6-2, 6-2 in the first round. Thompson will face fourth seed Lorenzo Musetti in the second round.
2017 U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens suffered a break while serving for the match before losing 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (5) to the Chinese Yuan Yue. The American was ousted in the second round in Brisbane last week, in her first duel since September.
Elsewhere, sixth seed Sofia Kenin, who won the Australian Open and made the final of the French Open in 2020, defeated Greet Minnen 6-3, 6-3.
Ninth seed Tatjana Maria was leading 6-1, 4-3 when her opponent, Nadia Podoroska, withdrew.
The duel between Osaka and Raducanu is canceled.
A friendly match between Naomi Osaka and Britain’s Emma Raducanu has been canceled after the Japanese woman withdrew from the event “as a precautionary measure”.
This duel was to take place at Melbourne Park on Tuesday. This was to be the first in a series of friendly matches which are to be presented this week, on the eve of the first Grand Slam tournament of the season.
Osaka played her first competitive match since the end of 2022 in Brisbane last week, and she is preparing to make her return to a Grand Slam tournament.
The holder of four career major titles gave birth to her daughter, Shai, last July.
