Volynets retires from Pelham opener with leg injury

Katie Volynets talks with reporter Tony Acosta during the 2018 Stockton, Calif.,
Challenger. In the background is Volynets' father, Andrey. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Katie Volynets has played a lot of tennis on clay in the last three weeks.

   It caught up to her today in the $25,000 Legacy Pro Classic in Pelham, Ala.

   The 11th-seeded Volynets, 19, of Walnut Creek in the San Francisco Bay Area retired because of a leg injury with Marie Lourdes Carle of Argentina leading 0-6, 6-4, 4-2 in the first round. Carle, 21, won the last four games of the 2-hour, 13-minute match.

   In last week's $100,000 tournament in Bonita Springs, Fla., Volynets came from behind to win in 2:46 in the semifinals and 3:14 in the final for her first professional title. The previous week, she reached the quarterfinals of a $100,000 tourney in Charleston, S.C.

   Volynets also withdrew from Thursday's doubles quarterfinal with Sofia Sewing of Miami.

   ATP Tour — In the opening round of doubles on red clay in Lyon, France, Lorenzo Musetti, 19, of Italy and Tommy Paul of Delray Beach, Fla., beat Andre Goransson (University of California, Berkeley, 2014-17) of Sweden and Andrei Vasilevski of Belarus 7-5, 6-1. Paul won the singles title in the 2019 Tiburon, Calif., Challenger. 

   ATP Challenger Tour — In the first round of doubles in the €132,280 ($161,069) Oeiras (Portugal) Open on red clay, Hunter Reese of Knoxville, Tenn., and Sem Verbeek (University of the Pacific, 2013-16) of the Netherlands ousted No. 2 seeds Luis David Martinez of Venezuela and David Vega Hernandez of Spain 6-1, 7-5.

   Goransson and Verbeek reached the final in Heilbronn, Germany last week, losing to Americans Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow 10-8 in a match tiebreaker.