The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Puig retires, giving Suarez Navarro spot in final
NEW HAVEN — In a tournament that’s had more retirements than The Who, Michael Jordan and Mike Francesa combined, no one has benefited more than Carla Suarez Navarro.
The Spaniard advanced to the finals of the Connecticut Open on Friday when her opponent, Monica Puig, was forced to retire due to a left abdominal injury about a half-hour into the match.
Suarez Navarro will face Aryna Sabalenka, the upstart 20-year-old from Bulgaria, for the championship on Saturday at 3 p.m. It’s the first time the two will meet in a WTA match.
Suarez Navarro has yet to lose a set in her four matches this week — but she’s only had to play three. After beating Barbora Strycova in straight sets in her first match, Suarez Navarro advanced on a walkover when Johanna Konta had to withdraw from their Round-of-32 match with a viral illness.
On Thursday night, Suarez Navarro beat three-time tourney champ Petra Kvitova 6-3 in the first set of the quarterfinal before Kvitova was forced to retire due to a sore left shoulder.
“I feel like I didn’t play, and I’m in the final,” Suarez Navarro admitted. “But, what can I do? Nothing. I want Monica to be good. Nobody wants to lose a Grand Slam. We have two or three days to start there (at the U.S. Open). But I’m here, and I play (Saturday) again.”
Puig led Suarez Navarro 4-3 in the opening set on Friday night when she left the court, in tears, to see a trainer.
“Both pain and disappointment at that moment,” she said. “I definitely wasn’t feeling good and I worked so hard to get to this point, to this point in the tournament.”
About five minutes later, she returned, “because I’m a fighter and a competitor. I don’t give up easily. I love to play, I love competing, I love being out there in a crowded stadium. I’ve never just given up that easily. I wanted to see if I could continue, if the tape job would help. But, inevitably, it was what I had to do.”
Puig lost the eighth game and retired from the match.
“I started feeling it in my second service game, and it gradually got worse from there,” she reported. “Obviously, with the U.S. Open so close, it’s better not to make it worse. I already know the consequences of getting injured and missing a Grand Slam, so that’s not ideal.”
Puig suffered a hip injury earlier this season and returned to play Wimbledon, where she was bounced in the first round by Julia Goerges.
This will be Suarez Navarro’s first trip to a WTA final since winning at Doha in 2016. It’s certainly her strangest route.
“Not only for me, but I think for any player,” she noted. “It’s a difficult situation. Strange.”
She said she feels she’s still maintained her rhythm over the week by working hard in practice. However ...
“It’s not a normal match,” she admitted. “If I have to play three sets, how can I play? But I played a lot of matches all these days before New Haven, and I feel good.”
Suarez Navarro said she told Puig to get healthy for the U.S. Open.
“Nothing’s more important than that,” the Spaniard said.
Puig, who made it through qualifiers earlier in the week, doesn’t play in New York until Tuesday, and seems optimistic she’ll be able to go.
“That gives me a little bit of a window to work with my team and get back to feeling good,” she said. “The good thing is, pulling out today, I avoided making it worse. I already know what it’s like to play with an injury and obviously having a negative outcome. I really needed to be careful today, and I think I made the right decision.”
Suarez Navarro has never played Sabalenka, but has admired her game from afar.
“She’s having a really good summer. She’s beaten a lot of top-10’s, a lot of good players. She’s with a lot of confidence and will be a really tough match. I need to be focused and 100-percent there and try to win, because it’s a final.”
And who knows? Maybe she’ll actually get to complete the match this time.