WTA Linz: Simona Halep withdraws before the semi-finals - Riske and Cristian in the final
Simona Halep (WTA No. 22) will not compete in her semi-final match at the WTA tournament in Linz. Reason: the knee.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Nov 11, 2021, 07:48 pm
The Wimbledon winner from 2019 injured her left knee in her match on Wednesday against Jasmine Paolini. On Thursday evening, the later scheduled semi-final against compatriot Jaqueline Cristian (WTA No. 100) was canceled. She only slipped into the main draw as a lucky loser and now lives up to her name - the final in Linz is her first on the WTA tour.
In the final, Cristian meets Alison Riske, who benefited from Danielle Collins' surrender after winning the first set in the US duel.
Bitter for the Linz audience: At the individual level, there was only one sentence to be seen instead of two semi-finals.
Halep had been thrown back from injuries again and again in 2021 - the shoulder caused problems in the spring, followed by the left calf. Halep then had to skip the French Open and Wimbledon and fell out of the top ten for the first time since 2014. Most recently she played the WTA tournament in Cluj-Napoca and reached the final there.