Tunisian Ons Jabeur, 7th player in the world, withdrew Thursday from her quarter-final against Russian Daria Kasatkina at the WTA 500 tournament in Zhengzhou (China), due to a right knee injury.
Earlier in the day, the three-time Grand Slam finalist played with her right knee bandaged against Italian Lucia Bronzetti (63rd) and needed five match points to win 6-3, 7-6 ( 7/5).
Shortly after her victory, Jabeur, 29, announced that she was withdrawing from the tournament, automatically qualifying Kasatkina for the semi-finals, where she will face the Czech Barbora Krejcíkova, seeded N.7, or the Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko (43rd in the world). “I’m really sorry to have to withdraw because my knee doesn’t feel very good. I just want to say that I loved my time in Zhengzhou and that I hope to be able to come back next year,” said Jabeur, now engaged in a race against time to recover before the Masters (October 29-November 5 ) in Cancun (Mexico).