Unwell Rybakina retires in Berlin, rain delays matches

World number four Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan withdrew from the Berlin Ladies Open on Friday due to illness, advancing Belarusian Victoria Azarenka to the semi-finals, while the rest of the matches were halted due to rain.

Rybakina, the third seed, left the court and later withdrew after appearing to be in abdominal pain and trailing 3-1 in the first set.

The rain halted play in the other matches, with US fourth seed Jessica Pegula leading Czech qualifier Katerina Siniakova 7-6(2) 3-6 4-2 before the match was called off.

The remaining two quarter-finals, featuring American top seed Coco Gauff against eighth-seeded Ons Jabeur of Tunisia and second seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus against Russian Anna Kalinskaya, were postponed and will now take place on Saturday.

SportsLigue