Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova suffers injury scare in Berlin as Harriet Dart bows out in Birmingham

Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova suffered an injury scare ahead of the tournament when she was forced to retire in Berlin.

The Czech, a surprise winner of her first Grand Slam title last summer, sustained a nasty fall behind the baseline during her second-round match against Anna Kalinskaya at the ecotrans Ladies Open.

Vondrousova, who was leading 5-3 at the time, got up gingerly, holding her right hip area, and took an off-court medical time-out.

She returned with heavy strapping and played two more games but lost both before shaking hands with Kalinskaya.

As the defending champion, Vondrousova is due to play her first-round match at the All England Club on Centre Court on July 2.

The Czech’s predecessor, Elena Rybakina, made it through to the quarter-finals with a 6-4 7-5 victory over Veronika Kudermetova.

Top seed Coco Gauff reached the quarter-finals after beating Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-6 (8-6) 6-2 and avenging her defeat to the Russian at the same stage of last year’s tournament.

Gauff will next face 2022 Berlin champion Ons Jabeur – who beat the American in that year’s semi-finals – after the Tunisian overcame Linda Noskova 6-7 (7-5) 6-3 6-4.

Dart knocked out in Birmingham

Harriet Dart was beaten by Barbora Krejcikova in the second round of the Rothesay Classic to end British singles interest in Birmingham.

Dart, the only home player to make it through the opening round, reached the quarter-finals at Edgbaston Priory last year and she was looking for a repeat.

But former French Open champion Krejcikova, beaten in the final last year by Jelena Ostapenko, proved too strong, with the Czech winning 6-3 6-4.

Dart forced two break points in the opening game but from there the precision game of Krejcikova began to dictate, with the second seed breaking serve in the sixth game.

A double fault in the opening game of the second set cost Dart another break, and the British No 2 was staring at a quick defeat when Krejcikova opened up a 5-1 lead.

Dart clung on grimly, retrieving one of the breaks, but Krejcikova served out the victory at the second time of asking.

In the quarter-finals, Krejcikova will take on Russian Anastasia Potapova, while Diana Shnaider moved into the last eight with a 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 victory over eighth seed Marie Bouzkova.

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