WTA Tour: Azarenka Advances In Berlin After Rybakina Retires; Rain Halts Play

WTA Tour: Azarenka advances in Berlin after Rybakina retires; rain halts play (Image Source: IANS)

Berlin Ladies Open: Former World No.1 Victoria Azarenka advanced to the Berlin Ladies Open semifinals on Friday, moving on after No.3 seed Elena Rybakina retired due to abdominal pain trailing 3-1 in the first set. The result puts Azarenka into her first grass-court semifinal since Berlin 2021.

The No.4 seed Jessica Pegula led qualifier Katerina Siniakova 7-6(2), 3-6, 4-2 in the second quarterfinal of the day before rain halted play for the day. The remaining two quarterfinals -- No.1 seed Coco Gauff against No.8 seed Ons Jabeur and No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka against Anna Kalinskaya -- did not get on court.

Gauff and Jabeur will start on Saturday at Steffi Graf Stadion while Sabalenka and Kalinskaya play concurrently on Court 1.

Pegula and Siniakova will resume after Gauff and Jabeur, followed by the two semifinals -- Azarenka against either Sabalenka or Kalinskaya, then the Gauff/Jabeur winner against the Pegula/Siniakova winner.

Pegula, bidding for the first grass-court semifinal of her career, had begun to pull away from Siniakova after the Czech slipped while leaping for a lob in the first game of the decider. Though Siniakova was able to resume, she lost 10 of the next 11 points to go down 3-0 before taking an off-court medical timeout.