After many tough rallies in a very long first set, in which she lost 6-3, Canadian Eugenie Bouchard decided to retire from her match against No. 2 seed Anhelina Kalinina.
Former World No. 5, who entered the court wearing a bandage on her right thigh, now sees her plans messed up: she had wanted to play several matches in Cluj in order to get closer to the desired match fitness.
After spending 16 months off the circuit, Genie says results matter, but are not essential for her at this very moment.
“I am disappointed to have ended my tournament in Romania this way because I really loved being here in Cluj. I pulled my flexor a few days ago in practice, and I tried everything to be ready for this match. I got an MRI yesterday, it didn’t show anything too bad, so I thought I could play, but it was getting worse as the match went on, so, to avoid a really bad injury, I figured it would be best to retire. I hate retiring and I wish I could have done better here, in Romania, but I hope to be back”, Genie said after the match.
Anhelina Kalinina moves through the last 16 in Cluj, with Genie Bouchard forced to retire after losing the first set 6-3. #TO2022 pic.twitter.com/Hm8QYgFa3c
— Transylvania Open (@TransylvaniaOpn) October 11, 2022
As for Anhelina Kalinina, this was her first match since US Open. In spite of this pause, she had a remarkable season: she entered for the first time the last 16 in a WTA 1000, she reached her first quarterfinal in a WTA 500, and she also had some significant wins, against Muguruza, Raducanu, Keys, and Sakkari.
All these results propelled her into Top 50, and now she is close to entering Top 30. So she will try to end her season with a good result, but for that she first needs to defeat Ysaline Bonaventure, who is waiting for her in round 2.
