Bothered by a painful hip, top-ranked Ash Barty retired Thursday from her second-round match at the French Open, leaving the clay-court Grand Slam tournament without any of the top three women in the rankings. The 2019 champion trailed 6-1, 2-2 when she signaled that she couldn't continue against Polish opponent Magda Linette on Court Philippe Chatrier. "I was battling the pain, and it just became too severe, and like I said, was becoming unsafe," Barty said of the injury that had flared up during training before the tournament. In addition to Barty's departure, No. 2 Naomi Osaka withdrew after the first round — she said she is going to take a break from competition for mental health reasons — and No. 3 Simona Halep pulled out before the tournament began because of a leg injury. In the buildup to this year's French Open, Barty played 13 matches on clay and won 11. She posted a record of 27-5 and won three singles titles before Roland Garros. But she was forced to retire in the quarterfinals in Rome in May because of an injury to her right arm. She said that injury had healed and did not hamper her in Paris. "It's heartbreaking," Barty said. "We have had such a brilliant clay-court season, and to kind of get a little bit unlucky with timing, more than anything, to have something kind of acute happen over the weekend and just kind of run out of time against the clock is disappointing." The Australian started the match with her left thigh bandaged and it was immediately clear she could not move properly. Too slow to chase her opponent's shots, she struggled in long rallies and with her first serve. Barty called for a medical timeout at the end of the opening set, then briefly left the court for treatment. She stopped after Linette hit an ace. Barty then walked to the net to shake the 45th-ranked player's hand. Already dealing with her hip problem in the first round, Barty had struggled through a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 win over 70th-ranked Bernarda Pera. "We did everything, absolutely everything we could, to give myself a chance," Barty said. "It was a small miracle that we were able to get on court for that first round. Again, today it was no better and getting worse again." Barty decided not to defend her title last year because of the coronavirus pandemic, choosing instead to remain home in Australia. After ending a four-match losing streak on clay in the previous round, 2020 runner-up Sofia Kenin advanced to the third round with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Hailey Baptiste. Kenin has had a tough start to the season. The 2020 Australian Open champion from the United States underwent an emergency appendectomy in Melbourne in February and her record was 7-8 entering the clay-court Grand Slam. Fifth-seeded Elina Svitolina also progressed, defeating Ann Li of the United States 6-0, 6-4. Svitolina combined deep shots from the baseline with clever play at the net in the first set and dropped only five points on her serve. She recovered from a blip early in the second set to win the last five games. In the men's draw, Rafael Nadal will later face Richard Gasquet on his 35th birthday. The 13-time champion is 16-0 against the Frenchman. Roger Federer is scheduled to take on 2014 U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic, and top-ranked Novak Djokovic faces Pablo Cuevas. (For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at @AO_Sports and on Facebook at AhramOnlineSports.)
