Halep retires hurt from China

World number one Simona Halep said that she was “worried now” after a persistent back problem forced her out of the China Open after just 31 miserable minutes yesterday.

The Romanian never looked comfortable against Tunisian qualifier Ons Jabeur, losing the opening set of their firstround match 6-1 before calling it quits. The 27-year-old Halep suffered a back injury a week ago in Wuhan and she cut a forlorn figure after it ended her Beijing adventure prematurely.

The top-ranked Halep’s departure is another blow to organisers in the Chinese capital, with Serena Williams missing from the women’s draw and several big names also absent from the men’s event. “There is a pain, I couldn’t move properly so that’s why I stopped,” Halep, who suffered a shock early exit from the recent US Open, said. “I don’t know exactly what it is. I will go home, I will have an MRI (scan) and I will see.”

“I’m just worried now, I feel sad that I couldn’t finish,” Halep added, saying that she feared playing was making the problem worse and she knew from the start of the match that she was struggling. Halep believes it is a different back problem from the one that contributed to her early loss in Wuhan.

“I knew that there is pain, but I thought if I warm up during the match, it’s going to be better, but it wasn’t,” she said. Holder Caroline Garcia survived a major scare before defeating wildcard Wang Yafan 7-6 (12/10), 6-7 (4/7), 6-3 to open the defence of her crown.

The 24-year-old from France defied a rattling roof and a surprisingly stiff challenge from the home player to labour into round two on Beijing’s hard courts after more than three hours of nervy action. Garcia took the first set on a tie-break after 77 minutes during which the retractable roof -- which was closed -- banged noisily on occasion in the wind.