Emma Raducanu in damage scare forward of Australian Open

Britain’s Emma Raducanu retired at 6-0 5-7 in her second-round match towards Slovakian Viktoria Kuzmova on the WTA 250 Auckland Traditional on Thursday after rolling her ankle, casting doubt on her participation at this month’s Australian Open.

Former U.S. Open champion Raducanu swept the primary set in 22 minutes however faltered within the second and had her left ankle examined throughout a medical time-out earlier than leaving court docket in tears after being unable to finish the primary level of the decider.

The Australian Open begins on Jan. 16.

Earlier, Coco Gauff beat fellow American Sofia Kenin 6-4 6-4 to arrange a quarter-final towards China’s Zhu Lin, who outlasted Venus Williams 3-6 6-2 7-5 in a rain-hit match that ran two hours and 23 minutes.

Williams, 42, served for the match at 5-4 within the closing set however Zhu broke after which fended off 4 break factors earlier than closing out the victory.

On the Adelaide Worldwide 1 WTA 500 occasion, twice Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka noticed off Zheng Qinwen 6-2 7-5 to succeed in the quarter-finals alongside unseeded duo Irina-Camelia Begu and Linda Noskova.

China’s Zheng, who was named WTA Newcomer of the Yr in 2022, despatched down 10 aces and 34 winners but in addition made 35 unforced errors on the Australian Open warm-up occasion.

“She’s a fantastic expertise,” stated former world primary Azarenka. “I really feel like she’s going to be a very, actually good participant.

“I believed that I caught to my sport plan fairly properly right now … I used to be constant, I used to be taking my probabilities after I may. I saved creating extra probabilities. I used to be much more aggressive, a bit extra comfy right now on court docket.”

Belarusian Azarenka subsequent faces Czech teenager Noskova, who adopted up her first-round upset of Daria Kasatkina with a 6-2 6-2 win over fellow qualifier Clair Liu.

Romanian Begu reached the quarters with a 6-3 6-0 upset of Latvian seventh seed Jelena Ostapenko, who made 41 unforced errors in an erratic show.

Begu gained 11 straight video games to overturn a 3-1 first-set deficit and wrap up the win in 73 minutes. She’s going to tackle fourth seed Veronika Kudermetova for a spot within the semi-finals.

Ons Jabeur, who got here near successful a maiden Grand Slam as she completed runner-up at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open final 12 months, battled via the opening set to beat Sorana Cirstea 7-6(3) 6-1 and arrange a quarter-final with Marta Kostyuk in Adelaide.

“(Cirstea) is a good participant, she pushed me to do higher and higher within the first set,” Jabeur stated.

The second-ranked Tunisian additionally outlined her targets for the 12 months, saying, “I would like the primary spot, I wish to win Grand Slams.”