Jasmine Paolini advanced to the semifinals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships via walkover after her quarterfinal opponent Elena Rybakina was forced to withdraw due to gastrointestinal illness.
"Unfortunately I was not feeling well overnight, and since I am not feeling 100% ready to compete I have decided to pull out from my quarterfinal match today against Jasmine Paolini," said world no. 4 Rybakina, who recently won the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open and reached the final of last week’s Qatar Open.
No. 26-ranked Paolini will face another unseeded player in Sorana Cirstea, who pulled off a remarkable comeback win over No. 7 seed Marketa Vondrousova.
Cirstea saved six match points en route to a 2-6, 7-6(1), 6-2 victory in 2 hours and 41 minutes.
'This has to be the biggest comeback of my career... To be honest, at a set and 5-1, I was like, at least make it nice for the public' đŸ˜…@sorana_cirstea | #DDFTennis pic.twitter.com/oBnA59jgWj
— wta (@WTA) February 22, 2024
Big target looms but South Africa are confident of chasing it down
De Bruyne joins Italian champions Napoli after Man City exit
Australia topple S Africa top order to take charge of WTC final
India tell Reddy to be ready for bigger bowling workload in England
Man City sign Dutch midfielder Reijnders ahead of Club World Cup
