Simona Halep has withdrawn from the final U.S. Open tune-up event. (Source: AP)
Top-ranked Simona Halep has withdrawn from the Connecticut Open, citing a sore right Achilles tendon.
The Romanian was scheduled to play Tuesday in New Haven, but says in a statement her Achilles is sore from “two weeks of many matches and I need to recover in time for the U.S. Open.”
Halep won the Rogers Cup in Montreal on Aug. 12 and advanced to the finals in Cincinnati, losing in three sets Sunday to Kiki Bertens at the Western & Southern Open.
The New Haven tournament also lost American CoCo Vandeweghe to injury. She withdrew Sunday with a sore right ankle while leading in the third set of her first-round match with Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia.
Fourth seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic lost Monday to Ekatereina Makarova of Russia 6-1, 6-3.
Tsonga withdraws from US Open
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has pulled out of the U.S. Open.
Former top-10 player Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has pulled out of the U.S. Open because of an injured left knee.
The Frenchman’s withdrawal was announced Monday by the U.S. Tennis Association. He’ll be replaced in the field by James Duckworth of Australia.
It’s the third consecutive Grand Slam tournament Tsonga will miss.
Tsonga has played only six matches in 2018, competing most recently at a tournament in France in February.
He has been ranked as high as No. 5 but is currently 64th.
Tsonga was the runner-up at the 2008 Australian Open.
Other players who have withdrawn from the U.S. Open because of injury include Elena Vesnina of Russia, CiCi Bellis of the United States and Mirjana Lucic-Baroni of Croatia.