The US Open second week has been full of uncompetitive, one-sided matches, and now things have gone from bad to worse for the fans. Marketa Vondrousova appeared to suffer an injury in practice and has withdrawn from her quarterfinal match against World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka.
Vondrousova has dealt with injuries throughout her career, including a recent shoulder surgery that kept her off the court after her stellar 2023 summer that saw her win the Wimbledon title and reach the quarterfinals of the US Open.
After the news of the withdrawal came out, Sabalenka sent a nice message to Vondrousova on her Instagram story.
“So sorry for Marketa after all she's been through. She has been playing amazing tennis and I know how badly this must hurt for her,” Sabalenka wrote. “Take care of yourself and I hope you can recover quickly. Love Aryna.”
The talented Czech has spent most of 2025 rebuilding her ranking and was having one of the best tournaments of her season in New York, picking up a trio of wins over seeded players on her way to the last eight. She took down No. 32 seed McCartney Kessler in the second round before collecting a pair of top 10 wins — over No. 7 seed Jasmine Paolini and No. 9 seed Elena Rybakina — in the next two rounds.
Vondrousova's win over Rybakina, one of the in-form players of this summer hard court swing, was one of the most impressive individual showings of the entire tournament. The 2023 Wimbledon champ hit just 15 unforced errors in three sets and served impeccably, and was expected to give the top seed a real run on Tuesday night. In nine previous meetings with Sabalenka, Vondrousova had won four.
Now, Sabalenka is just two wins away from defending her US Open title. She will take on No. 4 seed Jessica Pegula in the semifinals on Thursday night, a rematch of the 2024 final in New York that Sabalenka won 7-5, 7-5.
Pegula has been playing some of her best tennis of the season at this US Open, reaching the semifinals without dropping a set across five matches. She defeated two-time major champ Barbora Krejcikova 6-3, 6-3 on Tuesday afternoon. She will be looking for revenge against Sabalenka on Thursday night in the final four.
