SYDNEY: Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza has withdrawn with an injury from her second consecutive tournament to start the new year.
Muguruza, who retired in the third set from her first match at the Brisbane International last week with leg cramps, beat Kiki Bertens 6-3, 7-6 (6) on Wednesday to advance to the quarterfinals.
But Muguruza later withdrew from her next match because of a right thigh injury, handing a walkover to her quarterfinal opponent Daria Gavrilova, who beat Sam Stosur 6-4, 6-2 later Wednesday.
"I am disappointed, but I have talked to the WTA doctors and my team after the match today and following their recommendation, I have to withdraw from the tournament." Muguruza said. "I have felt pain in my right adductor since I started practicing here. During the match today, the pain has been there all the time but I wanted to compete."
Agnieszka Radwanksa advanced to the quarterfinals with a 7-6 (4), 6-0 win over American qualifier Catherine Bellis. Radwanska will play Camila Giorgi, who beat two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova 7-6 (7), 6-2.
It's the fourth time the 28-year-old Radwanska has reached the quarterfinals in Sydney.
"I really like the courts here," Radwanska said. Obviously conditions are tough, sometimes it's 45 (Celsius; 113 Fahrenheit). Sometimes it's so windy. But I think we're all kind of used to that," she said. "It's something ... in the air that it suits me."
In men's play, Paolo Lorenzi upset top-seeded Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-3, 7-5, and Fabio Fognini defeated Alexandr Dolgopolov 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
In other second-round results, Daniil Medvedev beat Jared Donaldson 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, Benoit Paire defeated Leonardo Mayer 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 and fifth-seeded Adrian Mannarino beat Ricardas Berankis 6-2, 6-1.