Serena Withdraws From Collector Swedish Open
World number one American Serena Williams withdrew from the Collector Swedish Open on Thursday after suffering an elbow injury in practice.
Serena won her first-round match in Bastad, Sweden on Wednesday, and was ready to play Klara Koukalova in the second-round on Thursday, but was unable to go.
“I was having some pain in my right elbow,” said Serena, who won this title in 2013. “I felt it a little bit in my match yesterday, and then it got better, but then this morning I really couldn’t hit serves, and if I’m not able to hit serves that could definitely be a problem.”
With Serena withdrawing, the Czech Republic’s Koukalova received a walkover into the quarterfinals, where she was defeated by Russia’s Yulia Putintseva 6-3, 6-4 on Friday.
Putintseva will take on seventh-seeded Swede Johanna Larsson, who ousted third-seeded Czech Barbora Strycova 6-2, 6-3.
The other semifinal will see Spain’s Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino play fourth-seeded German Mona Barthel.
Arruabarrena-Vecino beat Jana Cepelova 6-3, 5-2 (retired), and Barthel took out Sweden’s Rebecca Peterson 6-1, 7-6(3).
