BEIJING — Alex de Minaur advanced to the China Open final when Hubert Hurkacz retired due to an apparent injury midway through the second set of their semifinal Monday.
De Minaur led 6-4, 3-2 when Hurkacz - who was barely able to run for balls in the second set - stopped playing.
The nature of Hurkacz’s injury was not immediately clear.
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De Minaur sits ninth in the qualifying rankings for the ATP Finals.
In Tuesday’s final, De Minaur will play either six-time champion Novak Djokovic or Daniil Medvedev, who were playing their semifinal later.
It’s the first meeting between the 39-year-old Djokovic and Medvedev since Djokovic beat the Russian in the 2023 U.S. Open final.
Djokovic beat Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinals.
In the third round of the women’s tournament, which ends Sunday, six-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek rallied past Donna Vekic 4-6, 7-6 (0), 6-2 and will next meet Iva Jovic, who beat Kamilla Rakhimova 6-1, 7-5.
Elina Svitolina beat Maria Sakkari 6-4, 7-5.
Later, Coco Gauff was playing 16-year-old Chinese wild card Sun Xinran, who recently won the U.S. Open junior title.
Rybakina withdraws from Wuhan
U.S. Open champion Elena Rybakina withdrew from the upcoming Wuhan Open due to a foot injury.
On Saturday, Rybakina lost her first match with the No. 1 ranking when she was ousted in Beijing by No. 118 Alina Charaeva of Armenia in the second round.
“I’ll take some time to rest and recover,” Rybakina was quoted as saying by Wuhan Open organizers.
Charaeva extended her breakout run by beating Sonay Kartal 6-4, 6-1 to reach the last 16.
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