Barbora Krejcikova faces a race to prove her fitness in time to defend the Wimbledon title after the Czech pulled out of the Eastbourne Open with a thigh injury on Thursday.
Krejcikova was due to face France's Varvara Gracheva in the quarterfinals at Devonshire Park, but announced her withdrawal just hours before the match.
The world number 17 suffered the problem on Wednesday during her second-round victory over Britain's Jodie Burrage.
The injury worsened overnight and, with her Wimbledon first-round tie scheduled for Tuesday, the 29-year-old opted not to risk aggravating it.
Unfortunately @BKrejcikova has withdrawn from the #LexusEastbourneOpen quarter-finals
— LTA (@the_LTA) June 26, 2025
We hope you're back on court very soon, Barbora pic.twitter.com/CN23TBDfLH
Krejcikova is awaiting the outcome of a scan before deciding if she will be fit to chase a second successive title at the All England Club.
"I'm very sorry to have to withdraw from my quarterfinal today in Eastbourne as I'm having some soreness in my right thigh," Krejcikova said.
"Overnight it just didn't get any better, it actually got worse. I think it's better with Wimbledon in the next couple of days just to rest it and to see what's going on and to resolve that."
Krejcikova has endured a difficult time since defeating Italy's Jasmine Paolini in the women's singles final at Wimbledon last year.
She lost in the second round of the recent French Open and also missed January's Australian Open with a back injury, which kept her sidelined until May.
Krejcikova made a poor start to the grass-court season with a shock loss against Slovakia's Rebecca Sramkova in the first round at Queen's Club earlier this month.
The two-time Grand Slam champion had to save two match points before beating Britain's Harriet Dart in the Eastbourne first round.
The second seed saved three more match points against Burrage.
Australian teenager Maya Joint, meanwhile, followed her shock second-round victory over former US Open champion Emma Raducanu by reaching the semifinals with a 6-4, 7-5 win against Russian Anna Blinkova.
Maya-nificent performance 🗣️
— wta (@WTA) June 26, 2025
Maya Joint continues her great week in Eastbourne with a straight sets win over Blinkova to make the last 4!#LexusEastbourneOpen pic.twitter.com/Wcf6VIgI1C
Joint, 19, will face 2021 French Open finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who beat fellow Russian Kamilla Rakhimova 6-2, 2-6, 6-0.
The perfect reset 🧘♀️
— wta (@WTA) June 26, 2025
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova resets to find her way into the semis, defeating Rakhimova 6-2, 2-6, 6-0.#LexusEastbourneOpen pic.twitter.com/mUeRBrKO6u
Alexandra Eala, a 20-year-old Filipino qualifier, won 6-1, 6-2 against Ukraine's Dayana Yastremska to earn a semifinal against Gracheva.
World number 74 Eala is an emerging talent on the WTA Tour, having made her breakthrough with a surprise run to the Miami Masters semifinals in March.