Sloane Stephens retired in her match against Barbora Strycova at the WTA Elite Trophy yesterday, extending her winless streak since lifting the US Open trophy in September.
The American, part of the US team looking ahead to next weekend’s Fed Cup final against Belarus, crashed out of the tournament in Zhuhai with a knee injury that sealed her defeat to Czechoslovakia’s Strycova 5-0.
“My knee wasn’t doing what I wanted it to do,” she told journalists after the match.
“So, yeah, it’s like it’s better to just stop now, because obviously I wasn’t moving too quickly out there. I just thought, yeah, better if I just stop.”
She added that she hoped to be fit enough for the Fed Cup.
“Obviously I’ve got to get my knee in order first. Hopefully I can do that before next weekend.”
Earlier Julia Goerges beat top seed Kristina Mladenovic to reach the semi-finals alongside American CoCo Vandeweghe, Australia’s Ashleigh Barty and Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia.
Twenty-four-year-old Stephens, whose fairytale win at Flushing Meadows saw her world ranking shoot up, has been on a losing streak recently, tumbling out of both the China Open and Wuhan Open before pulling out of Hong Kong.
Her turbulent run meant she failed to make the WTA Finals in Singapore, while she was left out of the semi-finals line up in Zhuhai after a loss to Latvian Anastasija Sevastova.
In another match yesterday China’s top player, Peng Shuai, downed Elena Vesnina 6-2, 1-0 after the Russian was also forced to retire.
But despite her win, the round robin format meant Peng, a wildcard entry, could not go through to the semis.
The 25-year-old, the oldest player in the tournament, lost to Vandeweghe earlier in the week.