Top-seed Simona Halep has pulled out of the ongoing St. Petersburg Trophy due to a persistent knee injury.

COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

Disappointed to announce the news, the Romanian said that she felt pain in the last match and, therefore, decided not to continue.

?I'm really disappointed that I had to withdraw from the quarter-final today, but my knee is not okay. After my last match I felt pain and I feel it's risky to continue here,? Sport24 quoted Halep as saying.

As a result of Halep?s withdrawal, 19-year-old wildcard Natalia Vikhlyantseva of Russia will advance to the semi-finals, where she will lock horns with France's Kristina Mladenovic who knocked out defending champion and sixth seed Roberta Vinci of Italy 6-1, 6-4.

Earlier, Halep, who crashed out of last month's Australian Open in the first round, defeated Croatia's Ana Konjuh in the second round of St. Petersburg to storm into the quarter-finals.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)