World No.1 Garbine Muguruza has fallen at the first hurdle at the China Open, with the Spaniard forced to retire due to illness during her first-round match against Czech Barbora Strycova.
The Wimbledon champion looked sluggish throughout and was broken in the first game before losing the first set 6-1. She was trailing 2-0 in the second when she decided she could not continue.
“I got a virus in Wuhan and I did not practice in Beijing. I thought an extra day’s rest would help, and didn’t want to pull out,” Muguruza said. “But I couldn’t perform today.”
American qualifier Christina McHale served up another shock when she beat Sloane Stephens 6-3 6-0 to send the US Open champion crashing out in the first round of a tournament for the second week in a row.
Stephens, who is seeded 15th in Beijing, was eliminated in the first round of last week’s Wuhan Open by China’s Wang Qiang and was left lamenting another poor performance.
“Just a tough day,” she said. “There’s not really much to say about it. Just forget about it and move on, try to have a better level for the next tournament.”
France’s Alize Cornet eliminated former world No.1 Angelique Kerber 6-4 6-4 in the second round in an even battle that ended the German’s hopes of a first title since she won the US Open in 2016.
Kerber battled hard from the baseline but was undone by Cornet’s deft touches at the net.
Fifth seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark bucked the trend of upsets with a 6-2 6-2 win over Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Simona Halep’s match against Slovak Magdalena Rybarikova was moved to Wednesday after rain delayed play.
On Tuesday Australia’s Daria Gavrilova will face CoCo Vandeweghe, progressed serenely into the second round with a 6-2 6-2 win over Croatia’s Donna Vekic.