Italian Open: Raducanu's back injury forces yet another exit; Pegula and Jabeur enter Round of 32 in Rome

Andreescu was up a set and a break, 6-2, 2-1, on Raducanu before the British 10th seed made the call to end the match. "I'm definitely disappointed with how today went. But I guess I wanted to give it a try," said the 19-year-old Raducanu. Parrizas Diaz and Andreescu will now meet in the second round.

TN Sports Desk

Updated May 11, 2022, 01:58 IST

Raducanu called off the match 6-2, 2-1 against Andreescu (Twitter/InteBNLdItalia)

Photo : Twitter

Raducanu's retirement in the Italian Open marked a disappointing end to a highly-anticipated clash with Andreescu, another US Open champion.

Andreescu was up a set and a break, 6-2, 2-1, on Raducanu before the British 10th seed made the call to end the match.

After dropping serve twice in the opening set to trail Andreescu 2-5, Raducanu took an off-court medical timeout. It was not enough, though, and she had to pull out of the contest four games later.

"I'm definitely disappointed with how today went. But I guess I wanted to give it a try," said the 19-year-old Raducanu.

"I never really knew how bad it was until I kind of went out there. For me, I'm still learning when it's right to push my body and push through it, and when it's not."

A back injury also accounted for Spaniard Sara Sorribes Tormo who was leading Nuria Parrizas Diaz 6-1, 4-3 when she had to retire.

Parrizas Diaz and Andreescu will now meet in the second round.

Ninth seed Jabeur claimed her first victory in three meetings with Romanian Sorana Cirstea 6-0, 7-6 (7/1), just three days after she lifted the biggest trophy of her career in Madrid.

On Saturday the Tunisian made history when she became the first Arab or African woman to win a WTA 1000 title,

Jabeur won the first eight games of the match and looked on her way to a routine victory when she was serving for a place in the second round at 6-0, 5-2.

But Cirstea had other ideas and clawed her way back to level the set at 5-5 and force a tiebreak.

Jabeur steadied the ship in the breaker and booked a second-round date with Ajla Tomljanovic.

Runner-up to Jabeur in Madrid, 13th seed Jessica Pegula squeezed past world number 25 Liudmila Samsonova 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to set up a last-32 showdown with in-form Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina.

Former French Open champion and number 11 seed Jelena Ostapenko was sent packing by American qualifier Lauren Davis 6-2, 6-3 in just one hour and 10 minutes.

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