“Azarenka is withdrawing from her semi-final match tonight due to a back injury. Muguruza wins by walkover,” the WTA said in a statement.
Victoria Azarenka withdrew from the Doha Open Friday (Mar 5) ahead of her semi-final clash with Garbine Muguruza, blaming injury which was on display as she battled through her last-eight tie against Elina Svitolina. Azarenka, a two-time winner of the Australian Open in 2012 and 2013, reached the quarters by seeing off Ukrainian top seed Svitolina, 6-2, 6-4.
But back pain dogged her effort and saw her visibly slow down during the second set.
“The pain didn’t really get any better. I’m pretty proud of the way I handled it mentally. I tried to approach it and focus on the things that I could do rather than the things that I couldn’t do,” she said after the match.Muguruza will face either Petra Kvitova or Jessica Pegula in the final Saturday depending on the outcome of their semi-final clash.
Muguruza will meet the winner of the Friday’s second semi-final between Czech Petra Kvitova and American Jessica Pegula.Azarenka’s injury casts doubt on her participation in next week’s Dubai Tennis Championships.
“I’m very appreciative of being awarded a wild card to compete this week and I’m looking forward to being back in Doha again next year.”
Muguruza will meet Czech Petra Kvitova, who beat qualifier Jessica Pegula 6-4 6-4 to storm into her third Doha title clash in the last four years.
