Suarez Navarro reaches final in easiest of weeks

Carla Suarez Navarro will play for the Connecticut Open championship in New Haven despite completing just one full match this week and playing less than four sets.

Suarez Navarro advanced when Monica Puig retired during the first set of their semifinal with an abdominal injury.

“I feel like I didn’t play and I’m in the final,” Suarez Navarro said. “But, well, I cannot do nothing.”

Suarez Navarro will face Aryna Sabalenka, who beat fifth-seeded Julia Goerges 6-4, 7-6 (3) in the first semifinal.

Suarez Navarro, 29, won her first match against Barbora Strycova in straight sets. Her second-round opponent, Johanna Konta, withdrew with an illness. Suarez Navarro then led 6-3 in the quarterfinals when thirdseeded Petra Kvitova bowed out with a shoulder injury.

Puig was up 4-3 after exchanging service breaks with Suarez Navarro when she left the court holding her abdomen. The reigning Olympic champion returned five minutes later, lost a game, then tearfully withdrew.

“It was a bit of an abdominal strain that I started feeling in my second service game,” Puig said. “I just gradually got worse from there. Obviously with the U.S. Open so close, it’s better not to make it worse.”

Daniil Medvedev advanced to the men’s final by beating Taro Daniel 6-1, 6-1. He’ll face Steve Johnson, who defeated Pablo CarreñaBusta 6-3, 6-4.

Fed Cup prize money will double to $7.5 million next year as the International Tennis Federation looks into how to change the format of the women’s team competition after already overhauling the men’s Davis Cup.

The ITF said it intends to set up a 16-team, one-site Fed Cup tournament, similar to the new Davis Cup setup approved last week.