Post by Admin on Sept 23, 2014 13:53:24 GMT -4
Serena Williams is treated by one of the doctors at the Wuhan Open before her withdrawal. Photograph: Str/AFP/Getty Images
Serena Williams withdrew from the Wuhan Open on Tuesday after falling ill midway through the first set of her second-round match against France’s Alizé Cornet.
The American top seed was leading 6-5 after breaking Cornet’s serve with a smash only for the doctor to come on court at the change over and take the 32-year-old’s temperature.
Williams, who was playing in her first match since winning her 18th grand slam singles title at the US Open earlier this month, sat solemnly, head down with a towel around her neck and a thermometer in her mouth before opting against continuing. Organisers later said she withdrew due to a viral illness.
Williams also had to withdraw from Wimbledon in July after a mystery illness prevented her completing her doubles match with sister Venus.
Her exit only added to the headache for organisers of the inaugural $2.4m (£1.5m) hard court event, where top names tumbled in early action after the city’s Li Na announced her retirement from the game last week.
The former world No1 and 10th seed Jelena Jankovic was also forced to quit her second-round match on Tuesday in the first set while trailing the American Coco Vandeweghe 4-1.
That followed the departure of the Romanian world No2 Simona Halep, who was beaten by an aggressive display from Garbine Muguruza.
The Danish eighth seed Caroline Wozniacki, who lost to Williams in the Flushing Meadows final in New York, narrowly avoided joining the exodus after battling back from a break down in the third set to edge Spain’s Carla Suárez Navarro 6-1, 3-6, 7-6.
On Monday, the fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska, the ninth seed Ana Ivanovic, Dominika Cibulkova (12), Lucie Safarova (14) and Flavia Pennetta (15) all made early-round exits to leave the tournament wide open.
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