Injury forces Andreescu to retire from her semifinal match in Hua Hin

Bianca Andreescu was on course to reach her first WTA final since June last year, but an injury stopped her in the semi-finals of the 2023 Thailand Open in Hua Hin.

The 22-year-old is attempting to restart her career after struggling with many injuries after her sensational 2019 US Open triumph. Following two second-round losses in Adelaide and Melbourne, Andreescu accepted a wild card for the 2023 Thailand Open in Hua Hin and became the highest-seeded player at the WTA 250 event.

She defeated Harriet Dart, Anastasia Zakharova, and Marta Kostyuk without losing a set before taking on Lesia Tsurenko in the semi-finals of the tournament in Hua Hin.

The Canadian started well. She broke her opponent's serve twice while being broken only once, and she led 5-3 in the first set. It seemed that Andreescu would not have any problems taking the first set, but suddenly, she lost 14 out of 16 points, and Tsurenko won the first set 7-5.

It was a sudden collapse at the end of the first set, as at one point, Andreescu was only two points away from winning it, with the scoreboard showing 5-3, 40-40.

Her performance didn't improve in the second set, and soon it was obvious why, as Andreescu requested a doctor, who attempted to help her with an area of shoulder and neck.

Despite her best efforts, Andreescu wasn't able to continue in the match and as she trailed 5-7, 0-4, she retired from the second semi-final match in Hua Hin. At that point, she lost eight consecutive games, and it was clear she couldn't compete at her best.

Tsurenko, therefore, advanced to the final of the tournament, which will be her first since 2019. In the final match, she will take on Lin Zhu, who beat Xinyu Wang in an all-Chinese semi-final in Hua Hin.