Question marks over Ash Barty's French Open hopes
Ashleigh Barty's French Open preparations have hit a stumbling block with the world No.8 withdrawing from a lead-up tournament with a recurring arm injury.
Barty withdrew from her first-round match against compatriot Daria Gavrilova at the Strasbourg International on Tuesday.
The right arm injury appears to have been one she has battled with from time to time, as Barty told tournament media she'd had it on-and-off since she was 16 years-old.
"I felt that it was back. I tested myself, but this morning (Tuesday), I knew that I will not be able to play," she said.
"Next week there is Roland-Garros ... Then it's the grass season. I will have two very busy months. For now, the only thing to do is to spend two or three days without touching the racket. I hope that I will be 100 per cent ... next week. "
The top seed at the tournament, the Queenslander was replaced in the draw by Latvian lucky loser Diana Marcinkevica.
Barty had been one of the form players of the year with 24 wins from 29 matches, including victory at the Miami Open and a runner's up performance in Sydney to start the season.
But it has also been a heavy workload for the former Wimbledon junior champion who has continued to play doubles, and took out the Rome tournament just last week with Victoria Azarenka.
Rankings high for barnstorming Barty
Barty topped off a great week after defending her doubles crown at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia Open to achieve an incredible rankings feat.
She and new partner Victoria Azarenka overcame eighth seeds Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Demi Schuurs 4-6 6-0 (10-3) for the Aussie to claim her maiden WTA doubles title with the Belarusian.
“There were ebbs and flows a little bit, a few momentum changes in the match,” she said post-match.
“But I think that the way we started the second set, in particular, we were able to keep the foot down, keep the momentum going through the tie-breaker as well.”
The title will mean Barty will climb to number eight in the world doubles rankings and will also be ranked number eight in the world in singles after she reached the third round of the women’s singles in Rome.
The title caps of a great week for the Aussie who secured an important top-eight seeding for her singles tournament at Roland Garros.
This will mean Barty won’t have to face the world’s top players until the later rounds of the French Open.
The unseeded Barty and Azarenka faced tough opposition on their way to the final defeating number one seed’s in Czech duo Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova in the semi-final and fifth seed’s Hsie Su-wei and Barbora Strycova in the second round.
Azarenka and Barty will have a week off before meeting up in Paris to go for a Grand Slam title at the French Open.
WITH AAP