Hong Kong Tennis Open: defending champion Yastremska loses Andreeva grudge match, injury forces Azarenka to quit
- Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska refused to shake hands or pose for pictures with Russian rival Mira Andreeva, who won in straight sets
- Victoria Azarenka retires hurt after sustaining knee injury in second set of clash with Canadian Fernandez
Reigning champion Dayana Yastremska was knocked out of the Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open on Tuesday after losing her first-round grudge match against Mirra Andreeva in straight sets.
The tournament also lost top seed and star attraction Victoria Azarenka, who retired hurt after sustaining a knee injury in her meeting with Leylah Fernandez, the 2021 US Open runner-up who will meet 16-year-old Andreeva in round two.
Azarenka looked in fine form in an opening set she clinched 6-2, and the Belarusian tried to continue after pulling up sharply in the fifth game of the second. But her movement was severely restricted and she called it quits after Fernandez took the set 6-3.
And on a day when the main draw belatedly began at Victoria Park, after Typhoon Koinu-enforced delays, Eudice Chong of Hong Kong bowed out following two tight sets with Australian Priscilla Hon.
Ukrainian Yastremska, the 2018 winner, refused to pose for pictures with her Russian opponent before the match. Added to an earlier announcement telling spectators the players would not shake hands, it all made for a rather unsavoury opening gambit for a tournament returning after five years away.
Yastremska was increasingly tetchy as the match reached its conclusion, and when it was over after one hour and 22 minutes the players neither met at the net, nor made eye contact.
