Brisbane: World No.2 Garbine Muguruza suffered a fitness scare ahead of this month’s Australian Open when she was forced to retire from the Brisbane International tennis tournament with severe cramping.
Wimbledon champion Muguruza was ahead 2-1 in the deciding set against Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic in the second round of the warm-up tournament for the season’s first Grand Slam event when she collapsed to the ground following a serve. The Spanish top seed was unable to continue and conceded the match to Krunic 5-7, 7-6 (7-3), 1-2.
“I felt in trouble in the second set when I was 2-0 up,” Muguruza said. “I started to feel my calves were cramping,” she later told reporters.
Muguruza had won a tight first set and appeared heading for a straight sets win over Krunic when she opened up a 5-2 lead in the second. However, she began to struggle in the 30 degree Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) heat and oppressive humidity as Krunic fought back to win the second set on a tie-break.
“I continued to think that with the match they (cramps) might go away, and then they were increasing, increasing. And then I had a lot of my body cramping,” Muguruza added.
Meanwhile last year’s runner-up here, Alize Cornet eased into the final eight with a 6-1, 7-5 win over Croatia’s Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.
In the men’s draw, 21-year-old South Korean Chung Hyeon stunned fifth seed Gilles Muller from Luxembourg 6-3, 7-6 (7-1) while US qualifier Michael Mmoh upset Argentine Federico Delbonis 6-3, 6-4.
Sharapova struggles
Meanwhile in Shenzhen in China, Maria Sharapova came back from a set down to defeat American Alison Riske at the Shenzhen Open tennis tournament and booked a spot in the quarterfinals. The Russian won 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 in just under two-and-a-half-hours.
Meanwhile French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko slumped to a shock defeat Tuesday only days after beating Serena Williams in the American’s comeback match. No.2 seed Ostapenko of Latvia lost to the big- serving Czech Krystina Pliskova 1-6, 4-6 in just 80 minutes.
Easy for Wozniacki
However, it was easy going for World No.3 Danish ace Caroline Wozniacki who breezed past American Madison Brengle 6-3, 6-0 in their first round encounter at the Auckland Open tennis tournament in Auckland, Tuesday.
“I thought I played pretty well, especially considering it’s the first match back of the year,” Wozniacki told reporters. “It took me a couple of games to kind of just get the rhythm and then I started playing better and better.”
Former World No.2 and 2013 Auckland champion Agnieszka Radwanska however, was forced to dig deep to remain on a semifinal collision course with Wozniacki when the Pole eked out a 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 victory over Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia.
Third seed Barbora Strycova was also taken the distance by Italy’s Sara Errani before the Czech emerged victorious with a 6-4, 6-7(3-7), 6-4 scoreline.
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