Serena Williams pulled out of a semi-final clash against World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty with a shoulder injury on Friday, days before the Australian Open, while Simona Halep and Sofia Kenin both crashed to defeat
Serena Williams
Serena Williams pulled out of a semi-final clash against World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty with a shoulder injury on Friday, days before the Australian Open, while Simona Halep and Sofia Kenin both crashed to defeat.
Williams, 39, had ousted fellow American Danielle Collins 6-2, 4-6, 10-6 in the Yarra Valley Classic but withdrew from the tournament hours later despite showing no ill effects during the match. Barty now has a bye into the final where she will meet either two-time Grand Slam winner Garbine Muguruza or Marketa Vondrousova.
World No. 3 Naomi Osaka recovered from a shaky start to power past Irina-Camelia Begu 7-5, 6-1 in 76 minutes in the Gippsland Trophy, and will face fifth-ranked Elina Svitolina or Elise Mertens in the last four. World No. 2 Halep, however, slumped out after being thrashed by Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-2, 6-1 in the Gippsland Trophy, where she appeared hampered by a lower back injury. Meanwhile, Muguruza has been in aggressive form and impressively hit the lines to run Australian Open champion Kenin ragged 6-2, 6-2.
This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever.
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
