Just as the tennis world got hyped up about Elena Rybakina being only two match wins away from becoming the WTA’s No. 1 player for the first time in her career, the Kazakhstani suffered a left ankle injury and was forced to retire from her Cincinnati quarterfinal.
After world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka’s fourth-round exit in Cincinnati, an opportunity opened up for Rybakina to overtake her at the top of the WTA rankings by reaching the final, but the Kazakhstani managed just five games against Poland’s Iga Swiatek before leaving injured.
Trailing 4-1, the Australian Open champion called for a medical timeout at 40-40 during her service game as trainers attended to her left ankle, which she appeared to injure during the previous point. After returning to the court following treatment, she played just one more point before retiring.
After the match, Rybakina explained that the injury was not new and had been bothering her for a long time, but she had managed to keep it under control. In Thursday’s quarterfinal, however, one wrong movement was enough to push her over the edge, leaving the second seed unable to even walk properly, just ten days before the start of the US Open.
“It’s painful to walk,” Rybakina explained. “We’ll know more tomorrow when we have the MRI. It’s been bothering me for a long period of time, but felt like I had it under control.”
Defending champion Swiatek, who beat Rybakina in the Canadian Open final last week, will face American world No. 3 Jessica Pegula in the Cincinnati semifinals.
