Aryna Sabalenka withdraws from Canadian Open citing fatigue
'I'm looking forward to kicking off the North American hard-court swing, but to give myself the best chance for success this season, I've decided it's in my best interest to skip Montreal,' Sabalenka said in a statement announcing her withdrawal.
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Sabalenka played the tournament last year, after skipping the 2024 Paris Olympic tennis event which directly preceded it. She reached the quarterfinals, losing in three sets to Amanda Anisimova of the U.S. — the player who beat her in this year's Wimbledon semifinals.
That defeat took her Grand Slam record for 2025 to two finals and one semifinal, but no titles, having lost the Australian Open final to Madison Keys and the French Open final to Coco Gauff. She has reached seven finals in 2025, playing 56 matches in the year to date and winning three titles.
Anisimova, who lost 6-0, 6-0 to Iga Świątek in the Wimbledon final but rose to world No. 7 in the process, has herself withdrawn from the D.C. Open in Washington, D.C., which begins July 21. Defending champion Paula Badosa has also withdrawn due to a persistent injury to her lower back, so the world No. 10 will drop 500 points from her ranking; Olympic gold medalist Zheng Qinwen, who had received a wild card into the main draw, has also been removed from the player list.
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A game of not just incremental progress, but a total offensive turnaround. Ohtani had a three-RBI day, starting with his towering 448-foot opposite-field blast. Hernández's double was one of the best swings he has taken in the last couple months, a line drive into the right-center field gap that one-hopped off the wall. Tommy Edman broke an 0-for-29 skid with a sixth-inning single and eighth-inning home run. Miguel Rojas, one of the few who has impressed during the Dodgers' recent struggles, followed Edman's solo blast with one of his own in the next at-bat, completing a two-hit night that also included a walk. But every time the Dodgers put the Brewers on the ropes, they failed to land the necessary knockout blow. In a game they needed their lineup to pick up the slack left by a lackluster pitching performance, they repeatedly ran out of rope. On the verge of taking the lead in the third, the Dodgers instead watched Andy Pages take a called third strike (which he reacted angrily to, despite the pitch being well in the zone), Michael Conforto ground out against a drawn-in infield and Edman hit a can of corn to left to retire the side. The 4-4 tie was broken in the next inning, when Isaac Collins hit a leadoff home run over the short wall in right field to chase Dodgers starter Emmet Sheehan from the game. Trailing by two in the sixth, the Dodgers threatened again. Edman and Rojas both singled, setting up Ohtani for an RBI knock in left field. But then Will Smith grounded out to second to retire the side. The final tease came in the eighth, after the Brewers opened up an 8-5 lead. Edman lifted his home run to the left-field bullpen. Rojas went deep on a similar trajectory. That brought up Ohtani, representing the potential tying run. But he watched a soaring fly ball die at the warning track in center. Close, but not enough. Too little, once again coming frustratingly too late. The bats, of course, were not the Dodgers' primary problem Saturday. Sheehan saw his recently promising return from Tommy John surgery derailed in a five-run, three-plus inning outing. During the Brewers' four-run third, he missed wildly with an array of breaking pitches, and was punished for several sliders that failed to induce a whiff. The defense wasn't sharp either, with both Hernández and Pages failing to cut off balls in the gaps at various points. Read more: 'As lucky as we could be.' Dodgers' Max Muncy already recovering better than expected And generally, the Dodgers have reverted to the overall shoddy play that led to a seven-game losing streak shortly before the All-Star break (three of which came in Milwaukee to the Brewers, who can complete a six-game season sweep of the Dodgers on Sunday). But the lack of consistently timely offense remains the most confounding issue for the Dodgers. That was the case even before the game, when manager Dave Roberts gave Mookie Betts — the most glaring underperformer among Dodgers hitters this season — a day off just two games into the second half in hopes it would allow him to clear his mind and work on his swing. It felt just as prescient in the aftermath of yet another defeat, with the team still searching for a winning formula amid its most disappointing stretch of the year. Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
