Rome Italy) – Shortly before her debut match at the WTA 1000 in Rome, scheduled for this Friday, on Center Court, current champion Elena Rybakina withdrew from the competition. The Kazakh, who would face the Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu, claimed illness.
“I am disappointed to have to withdraw from Rome this year, but unfortunately I do not feel well enough to compete,” Rybakina said in a statement. “I have great memories of last year and was looking forward to defending my title,” added the number 4 seed.
Despite not defending any of the 1,000 points achieved last year, the Kazakh will not have her place in the rankings threatened, remaining firmly at number 4 in the WTA. However, Rybakina will distance herself from the fight for the top positions with Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff.
This is the second time this season that Rybakina has withdrawn from an event as defending champion. In March, she withdrew from Indian Wells citing a gastrointestinal illness. And for the same reason, she withdrew from the WTA 1000 in Dubai before the quarterfinals. “Rome is very special to me and I’m looking forward to returning next year to reclaim my title and play in front of the Italian fans,” she concluded.
Substitute only plays 7 games
Rybakina was replaced by Oceane Dodin, who had lost to Czech Brenda Fruhvirtova in the last round of qualifying, but entered straight into the second round as a lucky-loser. However, the Frenchwoman only played 26 minutes and also ended up giving up in the middle, when she lost the first set by 5/2.
Greatly benefiting from this series of withdrawals, before and during the game, Begu secured a place in the third round and will now face Belgian Elise Mertens, who defeated Czech Katerina Siniakova in straight sets, scoring partials of 6/1 and 6/4 in 1h36 of confrontation.
