Elena Rybakina wins Italian Open after Anhelina Kalinina retires injured in Rome showpiece

Elena Rybakina won the Italian Open title with a walkover victory against Anhelina Kalinina — Rybakina was leading 6-4 1-0 when Kalinina retired. Kalinina was looking for her first career WTA title, in her second career final. Ad The 30th seed had won a string of upsets on the way to the final, beating 11th seed Veronika Kudermetova, 12th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia, and 19th seed Madison Keys en route.

Roland-GarrosSwiatek ‘positive’ she will be fit to defend French Open titleYESTERDAY AT 12:00 Kalinina got off to an excellent start, taking an early break to move into a 2-0 lead. Midway through the set though, Rybakina broke back before taking another game on the Ukrainian's serve to claim the set. Kalinina was struggling on her heavily strapped left leg and, while she tried to push on for a second set, succumbed to her injury after losing the first game of the second set.

After the match, Kalinina was devastated and revealed that she had been playing injured. She said: «I feel I'm at my physical limit. I felt the leg after the quarter-finals.» The Ukrainian had absolute confidence in her decision to withdraw.

She explained: "(Quitting) was absolutely correct, even though emotions (told me) I want to play today. After I went off court, I almost fell in the locker room because the leg started cramping. (It was) the absolutely correct decision." Having impressed many neutrals with her performances in Rome, Kalinina admitted she still has much to learn.