Agnieszka Radwanska, seen before retiring Tuesday, will hope a week of rest will be what her shoulder needs before the U.S. Open starts. (Joe Scarnici/Getty Images)
Agnieszka Radwanska expects to play in the U.S. Open.
But after retiring from the New Haven Open on Tuesday with nagging shoulder injury, the world's second-ranked player acknowledged she's not sure how that will affect her play.
"I was struggling with the shoulder for a couple of weeks now," she said. "Honestly, it's near the end of the season and I've really played a lot this year."
The top seed at New Haven, who received a bye in the first round, dropped the opening set 6-0 and was down 2-1 and a break in the second set when she ended her second-round match with qualifier Olga Govortsova.
A trainer had been called between sets to work on Radwanska's right shoulder, which she said has been bothering her since the start of the hard-court season.
"It's just inflammation," she said. "I really put on the shoulder a lot of tennis the last couple of weeks and my shoulder is saying 'no' sometimes when I go on the court."
Radwanska, who mentioned her shoulder problems last week after a 6-1, 6-1 loss to Li Na in Cincinnati, said she didn't want to risk a more serious injury by finishing out this match.
"The Grand Slam is the most important tournament, obviously," she said. "I was just scared to play more."
Govortsova, ranked 82nd in the world, had lost in straight sets in her only two previous meetings with the Polish star.
She said it was her play, more than her opponent's shoulder, which dictated the winner this time.
"The key was I started the match really well," she said.
Radwanska looked sluggish from the start. Govortsova was able to move her around the court and kept her back by putting some well-placed lobs over her head when she came in.
"I think she played all right, but think I didn't do anything there to win more, that's for sure," Radwanska said.
Govortsova, who won a three-set match over Russia's Vera Dushenvina in the first round Monday, will play seventh-seeded Maria Kirilenko of Russia in the quarterfinals. Kirilenko advanced Tuesday when Germany's Mona Barthel withdrew from their second-round match with a stomach bug.
Earlier, Marion Bartoli of France rallied from 3-0 down in the third set to reel off the next six games and beat 19-year-old American Sloan Stephens.
The fifth-seeded Bartoli had lost nine straight games before finding her groundstrokes and overpowering the 19-year-old Stephens 6-1, 0-6, 6-3.
"I started to hit the ball harder, be mentally very tough," she said. "The crucial game was at 3-2 when I served for 20 minutes or so, and I was able to hold my serve to get back to 3-all. From there, I felt a bit more comfortable."
Stephens appeared in control of the match after sweeping through the second set and taking the first three games in the third. But Bartoli found another gear, screaming "come on" after each game-winning shot.
"I think she raised her level back to where it was in the first set," Stephens said. "Things went her way, but I think we still played a pretty high level of tennis. It just happened."
This is Bartoli's ninth trip to New Haven since 2003 and her sixth quarterfinal. She has never advanced further.
Bartoli will face fourth-seeded Sara Errani of Italy in the quarters. Errani beat Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3 in the second round.
"We know each other very well," Errani said. "We play a lot of time in practice and matches, so I was thinking what she was thinking. I think I played a good match."
It has been a breakthrough year for Errani, who has already won four tournaments this season and reached the final at the French Open, losing to Maria Sharapova in the title match.
"It was an amazing two weeks for me," Errani said. "It changed my mentality a bit because after that, I made the top 10. You have to think a bit different than normal in tournaments. It's very nice for me to be top 10. It's a dream, and I want to continue to be like that."
Wozniak wins all-Quebec battle at Challenger event
While most of the top women who are playing this week are in New Haven, Aleksandra Wozniak and fellow Canadian Eugenie Bouchard slugged it out at the Texas Tennis Open in Dallas, with the veteran winning 6-2, 6-2.
With the win, the 24-year-old Wozniak, of Blainville, Que., reached the quarter-finals of a WTA event for the third time this season, after posting last-eight performances in Budapest and at Montreal's Rogers Cup two weeks ago.
Canada's top-ranked female singles player was particularly dominant with her return game, breaking Montreal's Bouchard's serve on multiple occasions.
Wozniak will play Australia's Casey Dellacqua on Wednesday. Dellacqua beat fourth-seeded Belgian Yanina Wickmayer 6-4, 6-3.
Bouchard, 18, who went through the qualifying round to earn her spot in the main draw, beat Hungary's Melinda Czink and Kazakhstan's Galina Voskoboeva earlier in the week.
Bouchard now heads to New York to compete for her second consecutive junior Grand Slam singles title at the U.S. Open. She won the Wimbledon title in June.
In other second-round matches, third-seed Italian Roberta Vinci beat Slovenian Polona Hercog 6-2, 6-3, No. 6 Peng Shuai of China defeated France's Pauline Parmentier 6-4, 6-2, and Serbia's Bojana Jovanoski topped Croatia's Mirjana Lucico 7-6 (5), 6-2.
Tsonga, Isner advance at Winston-Salem
Defending champion John Isner and top seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France both won Tuesday in the second round of the Winston-Salem Open.
The third-seeded Isner, the highest-ranked American (10th) in the world rankings, was pushed to three sets before beating Slovakia's Martin Klizan 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.
Tsonga, the highest-ranked player (sixth) in the final hard-court tournament before the U.S. Open, beat Brazil's Thomaz Bellucci 6-3, 7-6 (7-2).
Isner, who was born in nearby Greensboro, N.C., showed the effects of a two-week layoff, coming out sluggish against Klizan.
The left-hander broke Isner's serve in the opening game of the first set, and kept him scrambling with his groundstrokes.
However, Isner eventually picked up his game, serving 13 aces — the fastest recorded at 140 mph — and breaking Klizan's serve late in each of the final two sets.
"I felt the match was going to be tough, and that's exactly what it was," Isner said. "He was playing pretty well, and I wasn't on top of my game. That's all it took in that first set, and from that point on I knew it was going to be a battle.
"I wasn't that great out there today, but as the tournament progresses, I should get stronger."
Isner will next face 13th-seeded Jurgen Melzer of Austria, who fought off a challenge from 303rd-ranked qualifier Michael McClune to win 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (12-10).
Tsonga, a semifinalist at Wimbledon earlier this season, broke Bellucci's serve in the first set. But the Brazilian overcame four double faults to force a second-set tiebreaker.
"It was a good match for me," said Tsonga, who teamed with Michael Llodra for the silver medal in men's doubles at the London Olympics. "The second set, I had many occasions to finish it, but I did much better in the tiebreaker."
Tsonga will next play qualifier Sergiy Stakhovsky of the Ukraine, who upset 15th-seeded Pablo Andujar of Spain 6-2, 6-3.
In addition to Andujar, three other seeded players were eliminated Tuesday: eighth-seeded Julien Benneteau of France, last year's Winston-Salem finalist; 11th-seeded Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan and 12th seed Kevin Anderson of South Africa.
Benneteau lost to Poland's Lukasz Kubot 2-6, 7-5, 6-4, his second straight win over a seeded player; Istomin lost to Belgium's Steve Darcis 6-2, 6-2; while Anderson fell to qualifier Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 6-4, 7-6 (7-2).
Also advancing to Wednesday's round of 16 were second-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, fourth-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of the Ukraine, sixth seed Marcel Granollers of Spain, seventh-seeded Sam Querrey, ninth-seeded Feliciano Lopez of Spain, 13th seed Jurgen Melzer of Austria, 14th seed David Nalbandian of Argentina and 16th seed Jarkko Nieminen of Finland.
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