Tennis: Canadian teenager Andreescu retires in Miami fourth round

Bianca Andreescu of Canada (right) retires in her match as she shakes hands with Anett Kontaveit of Estonia during the Miami Open Tennis on March 25, 2019 in Miami Gardens, Florida. PHOTO: AFP

MIAMI (REUTERS) - Bianca Andreescu's dominant recent impressive run ended at the Miami Open as the Canadian teenager who has taken the tennis world by storm retired with a shoulder injury while trailing 6-1 2-0 in her fourth-round clash with Estonia's Anett Kontaveit.

The 18-year-old arrived in Miami fresh off her triumph at Indian Wells, where she became the first wildcard to win the prestigious event, but an overworked right shoulder ended any hopes of extending her 10-match winning streak.

Andreescu, who had struggled throughout the match, half-heartedly played a Kontaveit serve and then started walking off the court only to casually swat aside a return before signalling to the chair umpire that she was done.

After losing the first set, the Canadian, who has dealt with several injury setbacks in her young career, called for the trainer to work on her shoulder, something she did three times during her third-round clash with Angelique Kerber.

Kerber, who also lost to Andreescu in the Indian Wells final, called the teenager "the biggest drama queen ever" during their post-match handshake in Miami before going on Twitter and crediting the Canadian for a great performance.

Monday's (March 25) loss dropped Andreescu, who is ranked 24th in the world after starting the year at 152nd, to 31-4 for the season. Her 35 matches is the highest total on the WTA Tour this season.

Up next for Kontaveit in the quarter-finals will be either Denmark's former world number one Caroline Wozniacki or Taiwan's Hsieh Su-wei.

In other early action, Czech third seed Petra Kvitova beat Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia 6-3 6-3 to set up a quarter-final clash with Australian 12th seed Ashleigh Barty, a 4-6 6-3 6-2 winner over seventh seed Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands.

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