Ajla Tomljanovic seemingly can't catch a break as she was forced to withdraw from her second-round match at the 2023 US Open against Elena Rybakina.
After having one of the best seasons of her career last year, the Australian was forced to withdraw from her home Grand Slam early this year, and subsequently, Tomljanovic underwent a knee procedure that kept her out of play for some time.
After also withdrawing from the 2023 Wimbledon, the Australian finally made it to Flushing Meadows, to participate in her only major in 2023. In the first round, she recorded her first win on the WTA Tour in nearly a year, beating Panna Udvardy from Hungary.
In the second round, fans at Louis Armstrong Stadium were set for a spectacle, as the 30-year-old was supposed to take on the fourth-seeded Elena Rybakina from Kazakhstan, who is one of the favourites at the event.
In the first round, the Kazakhstani player outplayed Marta Kostyuk, and since their second-round match was one of the night session matches, Rybakina will be happy to avoid it, as she said during the event after previous problems with scheduling.
However, she certainly won't be happy about how she made it to the third round, as Tomljanovic experienced yet another injury that forced her to withdraw from the tournament, just couple of days after winning her first match in 2023.
While the Australian will likely end her season to prepare for the home Grand Slam in 2024, Rybakina will shift her focus to the third round of the 2023 US Open, in which she will play against the 30th-seeded Sorana Cirstea from Romania, who defeated Kayla Day from the United States, and Anna Kalinskaya from Russia in the opening two rounds.
After reaching the quarterfinals of the US Open last year, Tomljanovic is now set to drop by at least 164 places in the WTA Rankings, exiting the Top 250.
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