Serena retires from Zurich Open

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ZURICH, Oct 17 (AFP): Serena Williams retired from the Zurich Open with a right adductor injury after losing the first nine games to Swiss left-hander Patty Schnyder Tuesday.
The sixth-seeded American had in the past two weeks reached the Stuttgart quarter-finals and then lost to Elena Dementieva in the Moscow final. But she came on court with her right thigh taped and then barely competed, hitting with no conviction or purpose.
After losing the opening three games she briefly left the court with the trainer and returned with the tape removed, but it did nothing to improve her fortunes.
Williams did not appear too distressed after the match, and revealed that she had little idea how she developed the injury.
"Yesterday I had a really good practice and was feeling really good," said Williams, who Monday secured her place in the season-ending Sony Ericsson WTA Championships in Madrid. "Then today I felt it completely out of the blue right before I went to warm up. It was really weird.