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Lesia Tsurenko withdrew from the 2023 Zhengzhou Open mid-way through her quarterfinal match due to physical troubles.
The Ukrainian entered the main draw as a qualifier and bettered Diana Shnaider in the first round and No. 10 seed Donna Vekic in the second to set up a quarterfinal clash against No. 7 seed Barbora Krejcikova on Friday (October 13).
The Czech began the contest in a flying fashion as she broke Tsurenko twice to race to a 3-0 lead. While Tsurenko got one break back, Krejcikova broke her serve again at 5-3 to take the first set, 6-3.
However, the match unexpectedly ended during the changeover as Lesia Tsurenko approached the chair umpire with some physical issues and retired from the match. Krejcikova will next face No. 8 seed Daria Kasatkina in the semifinal of the WTA 500 tournament.
Astoundingly, this was Tsurenko's seventh withdrawal/retirement on the 2023 WTA Tour, six of which came in the Merida Open, Monterrey Open, Indian Wells, French Open, Nottingham Open, Canadian Open, and now Zhengzhou Open.
Tennis fans were outraged at the World No. 43's decision to end her match in Zhengzhou early. Many slammed her for ruining the tennis experience and messing up draws repeatedly. Some even called for a penalty, financial or otherwise, to be levied on Tsurenko.
"She needs to be reprimanded cuz she retires literally every other match," one fan wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
"Lesia Tsurenko has now had the same number of Walkovers/Retirements since the start of 2022 as the number of titles Iga Swiatek has won. 13," pointed out another fan.
"As she should for her career clearly that body is tiredddd and worn out," one fan chided.
"I swear if we could bet on walkovers we’d be rich with this woman," another fan joked.
"Tsurenko is a serial draw st*nker. What kind of tennis player can't play 4 matches in a row," another account posted.
Here are a few more reactions from tennis fans to Lesia Tsurenko's withdrawal:
Here's how Lesia Tsurenko has performed so far in 2023
While many withdrawals and retirements have hindered consistent progress for Lesia Tsurenko, she has gained some impressive results on the 2023 WTA Tour. Her first big performance of the year came at the Hua Hin Championships in Thailand, where she reached her sixth WTA final.
Tsurenko overcame three seeded players, Anna Kalinskaya, Tatjana Maria, and Bianca Andreescu, before losing to Zhu Lin in the final in Thailand. The Ukrainian No. 4 also reached the third round at the Indian Wells, Madrid Open, and the Italian Open.
Tsurenko has been impressive at the Grand Slam tournaments as well. She reached the fourth round at the Roland Garros, defeating former Grand Slam champions Bianca Andreescu and Barbora Krejcikova en route.
She also played the fourth round at the Wimbledon Championships for the first time in her career. As a result, she held on to her spot in the top 50 WTA rankings.
