Azarenka, Stosur Withdraw with Injury Before Indian Wells Quarters

Top seed Victoria Azarenka and Sam Stosur both withdrew with injury from their respective quarterfinals at the BNP Paribas Open.

By Erik Gudris

(March 14th, 2013) -- Angelique Kerber and Caroline Wozniacki found themselves both walking into the semis of the BNP Paribas Open today after both of their opponents withdrew due to injury.

The highly anticipated quarterfinal between top seed Victoria Azarenka against Wozniacki, in what would have been their first meeting in two years, never happened. Azarenka withdrew minutes before the match was to start due to a right foot injury that she's been suffering with since the event started.

Azarenka was advised by doctors not to play on the ankle or risk further injury.

“I tried absolutely everything I could to do, but I have been advised by the doctor, by my own team, that it’s just a very, very high risk already," said Azarenka in a statement. "I mean, it’s already really painful, but it’s very high risk to make it much worse.”

Earlier in the day, Sam Stosur was forced to pull out of her quarterfinal match against Kerber. The Australian cited a right calf injury that she picked in the last game of her previous match against Mona Barthel.

“I hurt my right calf muscle in the last game of my match against Mona Barthel when I was serving for the match, so I don’t know if you can get any more unlucky than that," Stosur said in a statement on the tournament's website. “It’s really disappointing. I had a bit of a rough start to the year and I feel like now my tennis has really picked up, and I’ve been playing really quite well these last few days. I love the conditions here at the BNP Paribas Open and I love playing in front of this crowd, so to have to pull out without even being able to get on court is probably as bad as it gets.

Kerber will face Wozniacki on Friday.

(Photo Credit: Natasha Peterson/Corleve)