Wozniacki retires injured in Indian Wells, sending Swiatek through to semis

Pole Iga Swiatek, the top seed, advanced to the semi-finals of the Indian Wells when Dane wildcard Caroline Wozniacki retired on Thursday evening at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

Swiatek, ranked No 1, led 6-4, 1-0 when Wozniacki, ranked No 204, pulled out of the match. The former No 1 had been struggling with a toe injury all tournament, which finally got the better of her in the pair’s quarter-final clash.

“I have huge respect for her,” said Swiatek after the match. “I’m sad it had to finish that way. I hope she’s gonna be recovering and be ready for Miami.”

For Wozniacki, the tournament is still a success. This was only her seventh event since returning to the WTA Tour as a mother, and already she’s made a WTA 1000 quarter-final. She will be left wondering what could have been, after racing out to an early 4-1 lead against Swiatek before losing five games straight to drop the opening set.

“I just wanted to hit the ball properly to be honest. It wasn’t easy, with her defence she was putting pressure on me,” revealed Swiatek. “I just wanted to stay patient and calm and be more solid. At the end, I felt like I could just go for it.”

The 22-year-old Pole will play Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, the No 31 seed, next.

Iga Swiatek won against American Danielle Collins (6-3, 6-0), No 26 seed Linda Noskova (6-4, 6-0) and Kazakh Yulia Putintseva (6-1, 6-2) in the previous rounds of the Indian Wells tournament.

Earlier in the tournament, the 33-year-old Dane defeated Chinese Lin Zhu (7-6 (6), 6-1), Croat Donna Vekic, the No 25 seed (7-6 (5), 6-3), American wildcard Katie Volynets (6-2, 4-6, 6-0) and German Angelique Kerber (6-4, 6-2).

Indian Wells WTA 1000, other quarter-finals results (Indian Wells Tennis Garden, hard, USD 9.258.080, most recent results first):

• Maria Sakkari vs. Emma Navarro
• Yue Yuan vs. Coco Gauff
• Marta Kostyuk beat Anastasia Potapova (28): 6-0, 7-5