KRISTEN’S KOURT: The Day That Barely Was

Written by: Staff on 15th March 2013

KRISTEN'S KOURT: The Day That Barely Was

epa03624741 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus responds to questions after she withdrew from her match against Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark during the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament in Indian Wells, California, USA, 14 March 2013. EPA/JOHN G. MABANGLO |

Wednesday at the BNP Paribas Open went into the wee hours of Thursday morning, but fans found themselves more than satisfied with the amount of tennis they were able to see. Today’s fans weren’t so lucky. Two of the day’s most anticipated matches never even made it to court.

The day started off with the WTA’s 7th seed Samantha Stosur announcing her withdrawal due to a right calf injury. Stosur, who had seemed to pick up her level of play recently was understandably upset with the decision she had to make.

“It’s really disappointing. I had a bit of a rough start to the year and I feel like now my tennis has really picked up, and I’ve been playing really quite well these last few days,” she said. “I love the conditions here at the BNP Paribas Open and I love playing in front of this crowd, so to have to pull out without even being able to get on court is probably as bad as it gets.”

Stosur’s opponent, Angelique Kerber, automatically received a spot in the semifinals.

Only a couple hours later, defending champion and top-seeded Victoria Azarenka joined the likes of Stosur and said that she would be unable to continue in her quest to defend her 2012 title. Azarenka announced that she would be withdrawing from the tournament with a right ankle injury. She had been noticeably struggling in her last few matches, but was somehow able to get through each one. It wasn’t until she had an MRI done yesterday that she realized the problem was much worse than she thought.

“I tested it out as much as possible. I tried absolutely everything I could do, but I have been advised by the doctor, by my own team, that it’s just a very, very high risk already,” she stated. “The doctor said it might heal quick – the pain might go down quickly because of the inflammation going down, but the healing process is a little bit unknown…it’s a little bit frustrating. We’ll see how it goes. Take it day by day.”

Azarenka said that as of right now, she is still planning on playing Miami, but will just have to see how the healing progresses in the next few days. In the meantime, her opponent Caroline Wozniacki will face the other recipient of a walkover, Angelique Kerber, in the semifinals tomorrow.

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Topics: Angelique Kerber, BNP Paribas Open, Caroline Wozniacki, Samantha Stosur, Sports, Tennis News, Victoria Azarenka