Australian Open champion Arina Sobalenko of Belarus advanced to the fourth round at Indian Wells on Sunday when Ukrainian Lesya Tsurenko withdrew from her scheduled match.
Organizers said Tsurenko cited “personal reasons” for yet another rejection.
No further details were released, and there was no indication that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, which resulted in Russian and Belarusian tennis players being banned from competing under their national flags, was a factor.
Indeed, Tsurenko has lost by retirement or retirement in nine of her 18 tournaments since last year’s Indian Wells.
She withdrew from the semi-finals in Canberra this year and withdrew from the quarter-finals in Eastbourne and Portorož, Slovenia last year.
Sobolenko, whose first Grand Slam title in Melbourne was part of a perfect 13-0 start to the year that ended with a quarter-final in Dubai, made it to the third round with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Evgeniya Rodina. .
She will then face former French Open champion Barbora Kreichikova, who beat China’s Wang Xinyu 6-2, 6-7 (1/7), 6-2.
Krejcikova beat the top three players in the world on her way to the title in Dubai last month, moving up 14 places in the WTA rankings to 16th.
bb/js
Source: sports.yahoo.com
