SYDNEY: Ons Jabeur retired hurt in her Sydney Classic quarterfinal on Thursday, allowing Anett Kontaveit to move into the semifinals.
The fourth-seeded Kontaveit advanced when seventh-seeded Jabeur retired with a lower back injury after losing the opening set 6-4.
After nearly an hour on court, Jabeur received a medical timeout after the set, and attempted to start the second set. But after serving a let and a first-serve fault, the Tunisian walked to the net for a match-ending hug. She is seeded ninth for the Australian Open next week.
“I really hope that Ons is going to be fine for next week and that it’s nothing too serious,” Kontaveit said. “The first set was really competitive and we’ve had some tough matches before, but she’s always come on top. I was really happy to get the set and that I was playing the way I was playing.”
Attempting to reach a fourth straight final, Kontaveit advanced to a semifinal against third-seeded Barbora Krejcikova, who beat France’s Caroline Garcia 6-0, 6-2.
Through two matches Krejcikova has lost eight games.
In the men’s tournament in Sydney, former No. 1 Andy Murray, playing on a wild card, advanced to the semifinals when eighth-seeded David Goffin retired at the start of the second set. Murray took the first set 6-2 in 50 minutes.
At the Adelaide International, former US Open champion Marin Cilic beat American Tommy Paul 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 and reached the semifinals for the second straight week.
In a match of strong servers, Cilic served 14 aces to Paul’s eight and won 84 percent of his first-serve points.
Third-seeded Karen Khachanov, runner-up at the first Adelaide International last week, was beaten in his quarterfinal by 58th-ranked qualifier Arthur Rinderknech of France 7-6 (7), 7-5.
In the women’s draw, third-seeded Coco Gauff beat Ana Konjuh of Croatia 6-3, 6-4 to reach the last four.