She went onto the court but didn't play. Rybakina's surprising decision

Rybakina announced that she has been struggling with a "minor injury" for several days and must be ready for the upcoming WTA Finals tournament in Indian Wells, California.

Born in Moscow, but playing since 2019 under the flag of Kazakhstan, Rybakina won her first Grand Slam tournament in 2022, when she triumphed at Wimbledon.

She became the leader of the WTA list in September this year, after winning the US Open Grand Slam. This is the second success in an event of this rank this year, after the Australian Open. Then she ended the 99-week reign of Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka.

Fernandez will face Kamilla Rakhimova from Uzbekistan in the semifinals.

Mia Pohankova, who turned 18 last week, is also in the top four. The Slovak player plays in Tokyo thanks to the so-called wild card awarded by the organizers. In the previous round, she eliminated Japanese Naomi Osaka, and on Friday she defeated American Alicia Parks 7-6 (7-3), 6-3. Now he is waiting for the winner of the match between Alexandria Eali from the Philippines and Diana Sznajder from Russia.