Wozniacki pulls out of Dubai WTA
Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki withdrew from the Dubai Championships on Monday (Tuesday in Manila) due to a viral
against Switzerland’s Stefanie Voegele.
Wozniacki, who won the 2011 title in Dubai, also missed last week’s Qatar Open because of the issue, which she
and the problem lingered with her
through the Australian Open.
She failed to retain her Melbourne crown after losing to Maria Sharapova in the third round of this year’s tournament and is yet to return to the court.
“It sucks. I’ve gotten ready to play these
two weeks (Doha and Dubai) where I usually play well,” the Dane said.
“If I can’t even play at a reasonable level, there’s no reason for me to go out there and just play one set - I want to go out there and I want to win,” she added.
Wozniacki has been replaced by losing Slovenian qualifier Polona Hercog.
Doha champion Elise Mertens was eliminated after a three- hour struggle, losing to China’s 107thranked Zhu Lin 5- 7, 6- 4, 7- 5.
The Belgian received treatment at the two and a half hour mark for hip and leg problems as she felt the effects of last week’s victory.
Lin, who’s best Grand Slam performance came in losing at the third round of last year’s US Open plays world number 23 Lesia Tsurenko next.
World number 56 in Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur beat Croatian Donna Vekic 6-4,
spot where she’ll face the winner of the last two editions of the competition in Ukrainian Elina Svitolina.
With world number one and tournament top seed Naomi Osaka currently putting Asian women’s tennis back on the map, Jabeur dreams of doing the same for her own continent.