ADELAIDE, Australia — Former Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber suffered a lower back injury and retired from her Adelaide International match on Wednesday.
The former world No. 1 trailed 6-2, 2-0 in her match against Dayana Yastremska when she stopped playing. Kerber, who won the Australian Open in 2016 and also has Wimbledon and US Open titles, had on-court medical help for the injury and then retired.
Kerber lost in the first round to Samantha Stosur last week at the Brisbane International.
In other second-round women’s matches in Adelaide, Donna Vekic beat Maria Sakkari 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 and American Danielle Collins upset her seventh-seeded compatriot, Sofia Kenin, 6-3, 6-1 to secure a quarterfinal spot.
In the men’s ATP tournament at the same venue, third-seeded Andrey Rublev beat Sam Querrey 6-3, 6-3.