Victoria Azarenka was forced to retire from her clash with Leylah Fernandez at the Prudential Hong Kong Open due to a leg injury, with her opponent progressing 2-6, 6-3, 0-0.

The top seed opened her campaign at the WTA 250 tournament against the Canadian player, whom she was facing for the first time in her career. Azarenka started out strong against Fernandez, breaking the 2021 US Open finalist in her first service game of the match. 

This dominance continued throughout most of the opening set, achieving a double break for a 3-0 lead before Fernandez fought back with a break of her own. This was not enough to deter to the former World No. 1, and Azarenka quickly re-gained her double break to take the score to 5-1.

Fernandez then got her first hold of the match before Azarenka successfully served for the set. At this point, it looked at though the 34-year-old would sweep past her opponent and into the next round, but in reality things were about to take an unfortunate turn for her.

Fernandez started the second set looking much more confident, holding her opening service game. The 21-year-old then managed to secure a break to get a 2-0 lead. However, Azarenka immediately broke back to level the set.

It was in Fernandez's next service game that things started to look worrying for Azarenka. The Belarusian built up three break points, but Fernandez fought back to take it to a deuce before successfully holding her serve.

After this game, Azarenka called for a physio during the change before requesting a medical timeout as she visibly struggled with pain in her left leg.

Azarenka chose to play on and won her next service game 40-0, but was still clearly in pain and struggling to get a lift on her serve. After Fernandez held her serve 40-0, Azarenka then committed multiple double faults in her next service game which gave Fernandez a crucial break. The Canadian then aced Azarenka several times to successfully serve for the set.

It was at this point that Azarenka decided to retire from the match.