Back injury causes Halep to call it quits

WORLD No 1 and top-seed Simona Halep retired from her firstround contest at the China Open due to a back injury.

Romania’s Halep lost the opening set to Tunisian qualifier Ons Jabeur 6-1 in 31 minutes before calling a halt to proceedings.

“There is a pain. I couldn’t move properly, so that’s why I stopped,” Halep said on wtatennis.com.

“I don’t know exactly what it is. I will go home. I will have an MRI [scan] and I will see.

“I’m just worried now. I feel sad that I couldn’t finish. That’s why I stopped, because I felt like it’s getting worse if I continue.

“It’s really tough when you have back injury because you cannot bend, you cannot react at the balls. I couldn’t play.”

Third seed Angelique Kerber of Germany had no such trouble, defeating France’s Kristina Mladenovic 6-2 6-2, and fourth seed Caroline Garcia of France beat wildcard Wang Yafan 7-6 (12/10) 6-7 (4/7) 6-3.

Zheng Saisai, another Chinese wildcard, advanced after beating Dayana Yastremska 6-4 6-3.

Meanwhile, Australia’s Bernard Tomic saved four match points before winning Sunday’s Chengdu Open final with victory over Fabio Fognini of Italy.

Qualifier Tomic beat the top seed 6-1 3-6 7-6 (9/7) in two hours 15 minutes.

Tomic, the world No 123, prevailed courtesy of his powerful serve and resilience to claim his fourth career title at the expense of Fognini, who had led 3-0, 6-3 and 7-6 in the final-set tiebreak.