Both Simona Halep and Venus Williams withdrew from the China Open field due to injury and illness on Thursday.
Simona Halep,who won a 7-6(4), 5-7, 7-6(1) battle against Andrea Petkovic to book her spot in the quarterfinals was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to a right hip injury.
The match against Petkovic, which lasted two hours and 35 minutes, presumably aggravated an existing injury and Halep – according to www.livetennis.com – will return to Romania for an MRI in order to ensure that she is fit for the WTA Finals Singapore, for which she has qualified for the first time.
Halep’s withdrawal gave her quarterfinal opponent, Tokyo champion Ana Ivanovic, a walkover into the semifinals after Ivanovic defeated Sabine Lisicki 6-3, 7-5 in the third round.
As for Williams, she withdrew due to viral illness, giving Wuhan Open champion Petra Kvitova a walkover into the quarterfinals.