Ekaterina Alexandrova was forced to retire from her opening match at the Memphis Classic after collapsing on the court. The world number 19, who went into the tournament as the top seed, was drawn against Kristina Liutova in the first round. She was trailing 7-6 (7-2) 4-6 5-4 when play was abruptly stopped as the 31-year-old suffered a medical emergency.
Alexandrova appeared to struggle in the scorching temperatures, which reached 34 degrees Celsius at one point during the match. While serving in the second set, she received a time violation for taking too long to serve. Just moments later, she collapsed to the ground, prompting on-side medics to rush onto the court and provide immediate treatment.
It quickly became apparent that Alexandrova wouldn’t be able to continnue and she was taken away in a wheelchair, handing Liutova her first victory on the WTA Tour.
However, the 16-year-old was in no mood to celebrate given the circumstances. She was clearly shaken up by what she had just witnessed and broke down in tears on the court.
Liutova will face Maya Joint in the next round of the Memphis Classic and will take plenty of confidence from her display against Alexandrova in spite of how the match ended.
She was playing her first match in a WTA main draw, facing a top-100 player for the first time and on the brink of a significant victory when the contest was stopped.
Elsewhere, former world number one Venus Williams suffered her 13th straight singles defeat at the hands of Anastasia Potapova in Washington.
She was beaten in straight sets and the gulf in class was evident from the first game, with Williams failing to earn a single break point.
The veteran is yet to claim victory in 2026, having lost all nine of her singles matches since the turn of the year.
Williams won a solid 78.4 per cent of points played on her first serve against Potapova, but only 24.1 per cent on second serves and 20 per cent on return points.