Halep Reaches China Open Quarters Before Withdrawing With Hip Injury

Simona Halep made her way into the China Open quarterfinals with a hard-fought 7-6(4), 5-7, 7-6(1) over Germany’s Andrea Petkovic. The second-seeded Romanian held a 4-0 advantage in the third-set and looked as if she was on her way to an easy victory. However, Petkovic fought her way back with a couple of break points to make things much more interesting.

Halep would eventually close it out in a tiebreaker and move into the final eight.

“It was a tough match. I was fighting a lot today,” said Halep. “She played really well, but I played better in the important moments, so I think that was the difference.”

However, soon after wrapping up her match with Petkovic, Halep withdrew from the tournament with a hip injury she suffered in the match’s first set. She was set to play ninth-seeded Ana Ivanovic in the quarters, but the withdrawal grants Ivanovic a walkover into the semifinals.

The Serbian took care of Sabine Lisicki in her match Thursday, knocking out the German 6-3, 7-5.

“It was a great match today—it’s always tough playing Sabine, she’s a big hitter and a big server,” said Ivanovic. “Today I really tried to take the ball early and stay aggressive and I think I did that really well.”

With the walkover, Ivanovic finds herself resting up for her semifinal match.

Halep was not the only withdrawal on the day. Venus Williams withdrew ahead of her match versus third-seeded Petra Kvitova with a viral illness.

Kvitova will take on Italian Roberta Vinci in the quarterfinals. Vinci took out the Russian-lefty Ekaterina Makarova 6-1, 0-6, 7-5.

Top-seeded Serena Williams was forced into a third-set by 13th-seeded Lucie Safarova. The American eventually outlasted the Czech 6-1, 1-6, 6-2 to push her way into the final eight. She will play Australian Sam Stosur next.

The other quarterfinal match in Beijing will feature an all-Russian affair. Svetlana Kuznetsova came back from a set down to push past Germany’s Angelique Kerber 2-6, 6-4, 6-3. She will take on Maria Sharapova who disposed of Carla Suarez-Navarro on Wednesday.