Week 20 - WTA International ($220K) - Strasbourg, France, Clay

Danjn · Lower Club Player

RE: Week 20 - WTA International ($220K) - Strasbourg, France, Clay

steven · Tennis legend

She has just broken again to take the 1st set! Some titanic games going on here!

LordBrownof · Futures level

Bally wins by retirement.

airsmashers · County player

Elena has won by retirement

too slow

-- Edited by airsmashers on Tuesday 17th of May 2011 01:51:50 PM

philwrig · Hall of fame

Good stuff, you never know how handicapped the opponent is who retires but still very good news.

steven · Tennis legend

(1) Bartoli or Date-Krumm next.

DavidC · Tennis legend

tomorrow's oop

Central (from 11.00hrs CET)
1. Zhang Shuai vs. Andrea Petkovic
2. Alizé Cornet vs. Nadia Petrova
3. Daniela Hantuchova vs. Mathilde Johansson
4. Marion Bartoli vs. Elena Baltacha

Bally's match should be televised by Supertennis TV and streamed

philwrig · Hall of fame

It looks as if either Bally/Bartoli have withdrawn, because a doubles match from another court is now starting on Central. Knowing Bartoli's track record I hope it is the French girl who has chosen to pull out and not Bally.

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

Annoying as I was looking forward to watching some of this match on the live stream

steven · Tennis legend

Bartolifanblog on twitter says: "Confirmed. Marion Bartoli has advanced to the quarter final due to a regrettable injury withdrawal by British No.1 Elena Baltacha."

Hope it's just precautionary & nothing too bad.

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

Just hope that she is OK for the French Open next week though it could be tough with some matches starting in 4 days time.

As it turns out it was probably a good thing she only had to play one set against Rybarikova

steven · Tennis legend

The odd thing is, there wasn't even a hint that anything was wrong when they Elena and Nino were tweeting this morning.

This would be the right time for a precautionary w/d (just before RG and a match she was unlikely to win) if she had a niggle, so fingers crossed that's all it is.

steven · Tennis legend

... and that is what it was:

"I'm very disappointed because I was really looking forward to playing Marion. Unfortunately I felt a twinge in my back before the match and I withdrew as a precaution. At a tournament this important and against such a strong opponent you need to be fully fit. The wta medical team here have been great and they expect it to settle down quickly with a couple of days' rest, which is good news ahead of the French Open."