Wimbledon champion Vondrousova withdraws from Adelaide International due to hip injury

In a surprising turn of events at the Adelaide International, Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova had to pull out of the tournament just days ahead of the Australian Open due to a hip injury.

The Czech world number seven, who began her season at the United Cup, was seeded third in Adelaide and was scheduled to play her first-round match on Tuesday evening. The severity of the hip injury remains unclear.

Meanwhile, former French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko, the Latvian sixth seed and world number 12, secured a hard-fought victory against Romanian opponent Sorana Cirstea with a scoreline of 2-6, 6-2, 6-4. Reflecting on her performance, Ostapenko admitted, “I was sleeping in the first set, I’m not really a morning person,” but expressed satisfaction at her comeback.

Ostapenko is set to face former world number four Caroline Garcia in the next round, who managed to avoid an upset by overcoming a break down in the final set to defeat Australian wildcard Taylah Preston 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.

Other notable results from the tournament include Germany’s Laura Siegemund defeating seventh seed Liudmila Samsonova and eighth seed Veronika Kudermetova progressing. However, former world number one Karolina Pliskova suffered a defeat in an all-Czech match-up against qualifier Katerina Siniakova, with a final score of 6-2, 6-1.

In the men’s action, Australians Jordan Thompson, Chris O’Connell, and Alex Bolt advanced with straight-set wins.

Meanwhile, at the WTA Hobart International, 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin secured a convincing victory against Belgium’s Greet Minnen with a score of 6-3, 6-3. However, former US Open winner Sloane Stephens faced an early exit, losing to China’s Yuan Yue in a closely contested match with a scoreline of 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7/5).