Johanna Konta forced to withdraw from her last-16 match against Coco Gauff at the National Bank Open in Montreal, while top-seed Aryna Sabalenka needed just under an hour to end wildcard Rebecca Marino's fairytale run
Thursday 12 August 2021 19:47, UK
British No 1 Johanna Konta has been forced to withdraw from her last-16 match against Coco Gauff at the National Bank Open in Montreal due to a left knee injury.
Konta was making her return to action in Canada after withdrawing from Wimbledon as a close contact of someone with a positive case of Covid-19, and subsequently contracted the virus herself to miss the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
After progressing through the first round against Zhang Shuai when her opponent retired with a leg injury, the Briton rallied from a set down to upset third-seed Elina Svitolina.
But she handed 17-year-old Gauff a passage through to the quarter-finals via a walkover on Thursday after withdrawing in advance of her clash with the 15th seed.
Konta is now a doubt for next week's Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati and the US Open, which begins on August 30.
Top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka ended Rebecca Marinos strong run with a 6-1 6-3 victory over the Canadian.
Marino, a wildcard ranked 220th, made it to the round of 16 by upsetting No 16 seed Madison Keys and Paula Badosa, ranked No 31.
But the No 3 seed came through in under an hour to reach her eighth quarter-final of the year.
Marino, the former world No 38 is returning to the sport after retiring in 2013 due to depression.
In the men's event taking place in Toronto, Stefanos Tsitsipas celebrated his 23rd birthday by earning a spot in the quarter-finals with a 6-3 6-2 victory over Karen Khachanov.
The 2019 ATP Finals champion will next play red-hot Norwegian Casper Ruud, who defeated Serbia's Dusan Lajovic 6-4 6-3.
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