Kiki Bertens leaves court in wheelchair after win

Associated PressSep 30, 2020, 4:20 PM EDT

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PARIS — This French Open contest had a bit of everything: Cursing. Cramping. Ill will. A player leaving the court in a wheelchair.

Locked up by what she called a “total body cramp,” Kiki Bertens had to use a wheelchair to leave Court 14 at Roland Garros after saving a match point and collapsing to her back on the clay at the end of a 7-6 (5), 3-6, 9-7 second-round victory over Italy’s Sara Errani on Wednesday.

Bertens said she was treated for cramping in her left leg, right foot and both hands during and after the match — but 2012 French Open runner-up Errani wasn’t buying it.

Errani, who swore in Italian as she walked off the court, accused her fifth-seeded Dutch opponent of faking the pain.

“If she wins, she wins,” Errani said, “but do it without all this acting.”

She thought Bertens looked absolutely fine in the locker room and players’ restaurant an hour after the match.

“Maybe it was magic,” Errani said sarcastically. “It was probably magic tricks. When she was running during the match, it didn’t seem like she had any problem.”

Bertens said she was in the treatment room for 45 minutes after the match and didn’t stop cramping for half an hour.

“Maybe (Errani) should have been in there,” Bertens said, “and then she should have seen what happened.”

Errani struggled with her ball toss, double-faulted 14 times and often resorted to underhand serves.

She served for the match at 6-5 in the third but couldn’t close it out; Bertens saved a match point in that game with a cross-court forehand winner.

REMATCH

Top-seeded Simona Halep has not forgotten her straight-set loss to Amanda Anisimova in last year’s quarterfinals.

Good thing. Because Halep has a rematch with the 19-year-old American in the third round this year.

“I know it’s going to be tough because she’s hitting the ball strong and flat,” Halep said after beating fellow Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu 6-3, 6-4.

“I remember the match from last year,” Halep added. “I remember also that I didn’t play what I wanted, so I will do some changes and I will just try to play better and to take my chance.”

Anisimova, who lost to eventual champion Ash Barty in last year’s semifinals, beat fellow American Bernarda Pera 6-2, 6-0.

STUFFED ANIMAL

Third-seeded Elina Svitolina was moved to tears when she was reminded of her beloved stuffed dog, Bobik after winning a second-round match.

“Actually very sad for me because in 2018 I lost him,” she said when asked if she had Bobik with her in Paris. “It was very sad.”

Although Svitolina tried to compose herself, the tears kept flowing.

“I forgot him in the room. It was very sad. Sorry,” Svitolina added as she wiped away more tears. “I lost him. … It’s a toy, but he was my talisman, my lucky charm.”

Even without Bobik by her side, Svitolina defeated Renata Zarazua 6-3, 0-6, 6-2.

Raducanu, Stephens, Murray lose in first round at Miami Open

Associated PressMar 23, 2023, 12:00 AM EDT

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MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Former U.S. Open champions Emma Raducanu and Sloane Stephens were knocked out of the Miami Open on Wednesday, hours after No. 1-ranked and defending champion Iga Swiatek pulled out of the tournament because of a rib injury.

Bianca Andreescu – the 2019 U.S. Open champ – defeated Raducanu 6-3, 3-6, 6-2. Andreescu improved to 2-0 lifetime against Raducanu, the 2021 winner at Flushing Meadows.

“Miami has a special place in my heart,” Andreescu said. “I’ve been coming here since I was I think 12 years old, whether it’s for vacation or training or, yeah, Orange Bowl. I love that tournament very much. Yeah, coming back here, I think it’s just good vibes overall.”

Andreescu moves on to face 10th-ranked Maria Sakkari, who had a first-round bye.

Shelby Rogers beat Stephens 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. Stephens has six hard-court titles, including the U.S. Open in 2017 and Miami in 2018.

Rogers will face Australian Open champion and world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, who beat Rogers in the second round at Melbourne Park. Sabalenka is coming off a loss in the final at Indian Wells, California, last week.

On the men’s side, Dusan Lajovic beat three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray 6-4, 7-5.

“I served pretty well, but the rest of the game was a bit of a problem today,” the 35-year-old Murray said. “Made a number of errors that obviously I wouldn’t expect to be making. I didn’t really feel like I moved particularly well, which is really important for me.”

Lajovic, a 32-year-old Serbian, will face Maxime Cressy, who had a first-round bye.

Swiatek withdrew because of a rib injury that she is hoping will heal during a break from competition. The 21-year-old from Poland also will sit out her country’s Billie Jean King Cup qualifier matches against Kazakhstan on April 13-14.

“I wanted to wait ’til the last minute” to decide whether to play in Miami, Swiatek said at a news conference at the site of the hard-court tournament that began Tuesday. “We were kind of checking if this is the kind of injury you can still play with or this is kind when you can get things worse. So I think the smart move for me is to pull out of this tournament because I want to rest and take care of it properly.”

In other action, 24-year-old American J.J. Wolf defeated Alexander Bublik 7-5, 6-3. He’ll face No. 7-ranked Andrey Rublev, who had a first-round bye.

Gael Monfils retired from his match against Ugo Humbert due to a persistent wrist injury.

Iga Swiatek out of Miami Open with rib injury

Associated PressMar 22, 2023, 12:29 PM EDT

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MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Defending champion Iga Swiatek withdrew from the Miami Open because of a rib injury that she is hoping will heal during a break from competition.

The No. 1-ranked Swiatek, a 21-year-old from Poland, also will sit out her country’s Billie Jean King Cup qualifier matches against Kazakhstan on April 13-14.

“I wanted to wait ’til the last minute” to decide whether to play in Miami,” Swiatek said at a news conference at the site of the hard-court tournament. “We were kind of checking if this is the kind of injury you can still play with or this is kind when you can get things worse. So I think the smart move for me is to pull out of this tournament because I want to rest and take care of it properly.”

She was supposed to face Claire Liu in the second round.

As a seeded player, three-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek received a first-round bye at an event she won a year ago during a 37-match unbeaten run that was the longest in women’s tennis in a quarter of a century.

“I was also aware at the beginning of the season that it’s going to be hard for me to defend all these (ranking) points,” she said, “because … these streaks, winning all these tournaments – looking logically and statistically, it’s not like it’s going to happen every year.”

Swiatek said after a 6-2, 6-2 loss to eventual champion Elena Rybakina in the BNP Paribas Open semifinals that her rib was bothering her. She explained in Miami that the problem first surfaced late in her quarterfinal victory against Sorana Cirstea a day earlier in California.

“Basically, it’s not like it happened in one minute or one second. It’s not, like, a serious thing, because we caught it … pretty early. So I felt like it was a process,” Swiatek said. “At first with these minor things, your body doesn’t feel anything.”

She said the issue was a problem “in certain movements,” including a “little bit when I served,” but Swiatek also said she’s not too worried about how long she will be sidelined.

The next Grand Slam tournament is the French Open, which Swiatek won last year for the second time. Play begins in Paris on May 28.

Instead of playing Swiatek, Liu will go up against 94th-ranked Julia Grabher, who lost in qualifying but now gets to move into the draw.

Liu advanced Tuesday when her first-round opponent, Katerina Siniakova, stopped playing in the second set because of a hurt wrist. Siniakova also pulled out of the doubles event with Barbora Krejcikova; the Czech duo has won the past four Grand Slam tournaments they’ve entered together, and seven major doubles titles overall.