Rome (AFP) - Italian open finalist Anhelina Kalinina blamed pure fatigue and a left thigh injury for Saturday night's retirement from the biggest match of her career.
The 47th-ranked Ukrainian was unable to go on and threw in the towel to hand Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina a 6-4, 1-0 finals win at the Foro Italico on a day plagued by rain delays.
"I feel I'm at my physical limit," she said."I felt the leg after the quarter-finals.
"I pushed myself yesterday," she said of her semi-final win over Veronika Kudermetova."Today I started, but after two, three games I couldn't.
"I was trying, but it was absolutely impossible."
The 26--year-old, who is good friends with Rybakina, said her only goal for the moment is to recover and get back to working on her game.
"I don't have expectations.I have my goals concerning my tennis, not the ambitions about counting (ranking) points.
"I'm trying to focus on my tennis, on my game, what I have to improve. I have a lot of things to improve, I have a lot of work to do."
Kalinina said she had no second thoughts about quitting only the second final of her career.
"(Quitting) was absolutely correct, even though emotions (told me) I want to play today," she said."After I went off court, I almost fell in the locker room because the leg started cramping.(It was) the absolutely correct decision."
