By Pritha Sarkar
LONDON (Reuters) -Holder Elena Rybakina was given an easy ride into the Wimbledon quarter-finals after Brazilian opponent Beatriz Haddad Maia retired midway through the first set with a back injury.
Rybakina had just broken for a 3-1 lead in the first set when the Brazilian 13th seed winced in pain and clutched her back after netting a backhand.
Haddad Maia called on the physio and kept grimacing as her back was being manipulated courtside. After leaving Centre Court to receive further treatment, she limped back in an attempt to resume the match following a 10 minute interval.
However, the way she stiffly avoided bending over to pick up her racket from her chair to resume the contest signalled that all was not well and that the match might soon be over.
The 27-year-old Brazilian tearfully went through the motions for one more game, grabbing her back after every point as she struggled to move around or make contact with the ball.
Less than a minute later, a distraught Haddad Maia clutched her eyes in an attempt to stop the tears rolling down her face.
After a quick exchange with her team in the players’ box, the 27-year-old shook her head to confirm she could no longer continue and gingerly walked up to Rybakina to share an embrace.
“It’s never easy to finish a match like this and I hope it’s nothing really serious,” said 24-year-old Moscow-born Kazakh Rybakina, who will next face either two-time champion Petra Kvitova or last year’s runner-up Ons Jabeur.
“It was really unlucky for Beatriz and I hope she gets better,” added the third seed.
The abrupt ending denied Roland Garros semi-finalist Haddad Maia of a chance to notch up a hat-trick of wins over Rybakina and also ended her hopes of becoming the first Brazilian woman in 55 years to reach the last eight of the grasscourt major.
(Reporting by Pritha Sarkar, editing by Ken Ferris)
