Svetlana Kuznetsova will not take any further part in Citi Open that is currently going on in Washington DC.
Kuznetsova had beaten Sanaz Marand in the opening game that she had played in the tournament and was set to take on the local girl Sloane Stephens in the Round of 16, but, ahead of that, she damaged one of her legs and had to withdraw.
The 30-year old Russian native announced her decision with a statement that was put on the official website of Citi Open the previous evening.
Kuznetsova’s words were, “I really want to apologize to everyone for doing this, but, I think my fitness is not at the level it should be for me to be able to play the next game. So, the best thing at this point of time is to pull away.”
Kuznetsova versus Stephens could have proved to be a cracker of a game, but, obviously that is not going to happen now and the latter would make it straight to the quarters.
Kuznetsova has not been at her best in too many tournaments this season.
She has been in the title round once i.e. in the Madrid Open, but, only to be defeated by the Czech player Petra Kvitova there.
In the big tournaments in particular, Kuznetsova has seen herself getting knocked out pretty early and that has resulted in her going down in the world rankings by quite a few positions.
She is out of top 20 in the official WTA rankings at the moment.
Having had a mediocre season, Kuznetsova could have done with a good performance in Washington.
Making it right through to the end in this hard court tournament would have given her some boost and would have put her in good shape for Flushing Meadows, that’s for sure.