Abu Dhabi Open: Flipkens’ injury saddens Kenin; Sabalenka wins again

Dubai - Sabalenka is eyeing her third straight title, having finished the virus-hit 2020 season with back-to-back titles in Ostrava and Linz

American top seed Sofia Kenin was left with a heavy heart after her second round rival, Kirsten Flipkens, was forced to retire from their gruelling battle at the WTA Abu Dhabi Open on Friday.

Having stunned the reigning Australian Open champion in the first set (7-5), Flipkens, the battle-hardened Belgian, was chasing a high ball at 4-5 in the second set, only to hit an advertising board.

The 34-year-old player twisted her ankle in the freak accident and the pain eventually forced her to show the white flag, putting her Australian Open hopes in jeopardy.

“I obviously got a little bit upset, quite emotional. We’re good friends and that’s not something you like to see. I just hope she has a speedy recovery and gets ready for Australia,” an emotional Kenin said after the abrupt end to their dramatic encounter.

The 22-year-old Kenin even felt the urge to check on her injured opponent across the net, but the social distancing rules didn’t allow the American to walk onto the other side of the court.

“This is not the way I wanted to win. She played a really good match. I just hope she’s going to have a speedy recovery. This is just really unfortunate, and I’ll write to her later, asking how she is,” Kenin, who will now face the winner of the match between Yulia Putintseva and Barbora Krejcikova, said.

And Tunisian star Ons Jabeur set up a third round clash with fourth seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus after a dramatic three-set (5-7, 6-3, 6-2) victory over Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Sabalenka extended her unbeaten run on the tour to 11 games with a 7-5 6-4 win over Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia.

Sabalenka is eyeing her third straight title, having finished the virus-hit 2020 season with back-to-back titles in Ostrava and Linz.

“I’m staying in the moment,” the world number 10 said.

“What happened in the past happened in the past, and I’m just focusing on every match. I’m just trying to focus on my game, work through everything, to try to do my best against every opponent, that’s it. This kind of mentality helped me build this confidence.”

RESULTS

THURSDAY

SINGLES

(4) Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) beat Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS) 7-5 6-4

(1) Sofia Kenin (USA) beat Kirsten Flipkens (BEL) RET 5-7 5-4

(15) Ons Jabeur (TUN) beat (Q) Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) 5-7, 6-3, 6-2

Sara Sorribes Tormo (ESP) beat Bernarda Pera (USA) 5-7 6-3 6-4

Tamara Zidansek (SLO) beat Leylah Annie Fernandez (CAN) 6-4 6-4

VeronikaKudermetova (RUS) beat (Q) Bianca Turati (ITA) 6-2 6-1