No quarterfinals in Indian Wells today, both Stosur and Azarenka withdraw!

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Wilson Blade 9

A very bad day for women’s tennis at Indian Wells today – first Samantha Stosur withdrew with a right calf injury and now top seed Victoria Azarenka is out with a right ankle injury. Angelique Kerber and Caroline Wozniacki are profiting on the withdrawals, reaching the semis with walkovers. The other semifinal features two Russian Marias, Kirilenko and Sharapova.

Stosur expressed her disappointment in the press conference:

I hurt my right calf muscle in the last game of my match against Mona Barthel when I was serving for the match, so I don’t know if you can get any more unlucky than that… I think this is only the second time I’ve ever pulled out of a match in my career, and unfortunately there isn’t anything I can do about it.

Here’s what Azarenka, undefeated in 17 matches this season, said about her unwelcome situation:

I tried absolutely everything I could do, but I have been advised by the doctor, by my own team, that it’s just a very, very high risk already. I mean, it’s already really painful, but it’s very high risk to make it much worse. It’s a right foot injury, and there is a big inflammation in both and tendinitis.

(interviews: BNP Paribas Open, photos: © Neal Trousdale)

3 COMMENTS

  1. I’m actually very happy for that. I wanted to see Caro in the semis and now there’s no problem with that 😉 Reaching the semi, she also gets more points, I’d love to see her on top again, one day 🙂

  2. I’m sorry to hear it. Sam in particular could have done without this, but it’s no fun for either of them. 🙁 At the risk of sounding like a troll, Azarenka’s expression in that photo does make me laugh though. On-court, she pulls the most horrifying faces as she batters the balls about like a psychotic. And off-court, she always look so sweet, and so innocent… 😀

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