Top seed Belinda Bencic pulled out of the Hong Kong Open quarter-finals on Friday as the Tokyo Olympic champion became the latest in a long line of players to suffer a late-season injury.<\/p>\n
The Asian ‘swing’ on the WTA Tour has been particularly hard hit by injuries and pullouts in recent weeks, placing renewed scrutiny on the demanding tennis schedule.<\/p>\n
Bencic<\/a>, who was ranked 421 in the world at the start of the season but has climbed to 11, was supposed to meet Spain’s Cristina Bucsa<\/a> in the last eight in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n “So disappointed to have to withdraw today from my quarter-final match here in Hong Kong due to my thigh injury,” said the 28-year-old Swiss, who won gold at the Covid-delayed Olympics in 2021.<\/p>\n “I\u2019ve played a lot of tennis in the past few weeks and did everything I could to stay healthy, but it was not to be.”<\/p>\n Bencic beat Linda Noskova<\/a> last weekend to win the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo and cap a remarkable comeback, a year after returning to tennis from having a baby.<\/p>\n Noskova reached the final in the Japanese capital after Elena Rybakina<\/a> withdrew injured ahead of their semi-final.<\/p>\n Osaka, Raducanu and Kasatkina all withdraw<\/p>\n The tournament in Hong Kong was hit even before it began with the withdrawals of former world number one Naomi Osaka<\/a> and the 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu<\/a>.<\/p>\n Both ended their seasons early through injury.<\/p>\n