Williams wins but then withdraws

Tennis: Serena Williams beat Bojana Jovanowski in the last 16 of the Brisbane International today but then pulled out of the…

Tennis:Serena Williams beat Bojana Jovanowski in the last 16 of the Brisbane International today but then pulled out of the tournament with a sprained ankle.

The fourth seed wrapped up a 6-2 6-4 win but rolled her ankle and was forced to withdraw after a subsequent scan. “I’m disappointed to have to pull out. I have been to hospital and it has been confirmed that I have a left ankle sprain that I probably shouldn’t play on.

“I’m going to take a couple of days off and see how I feel. I’m still hopeful of playing the Australian Open.” Top seed and home favourite Samantha Stosur was eliminated by Iveta Benesova, the Czech player triumphing 6-4 6-2.

“Iveta played quite well, but I probably didn’t do what I set out to do,” Stosur said. “As the match went on it got harder and harder to try and stop what was happening.”

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The other women’s quarter-finals saw in-form Kaia Kanepi hammer seventh seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-0 6-3 while sixth seed Jelena Jankovic beat Russian Nina Bratchikova 6-3 6-2.