Friedsam retires with ankle injury at Gastein Ladies

BAD GASTEIN, Austria (AP) German tennis player Anna-Lena Friedsam was carried off the court on a stretcher after spraining her ankle while leading Klara Koukalova of Czech Republic 6-1, 4-0 in the first round of the Gastein Ladies on Monday.

Tournament organizers had no immediate update on Friedsam's injury. The 21-year-old German reached a career-high 73rd on this week's WTA rankings.

Koukalova, who double-faulted nine times and failed to hold serve during the match, will next play second-seeded Samantha Stosur of Australia or Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia.

In the only other first-round match completed, Danka Kovinic of Montenegro defeated eighth-seeded Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-4.

No. 4 Carina Witthoeft of Germany was leading Denisa Allertova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 5-5 when play was suspended because of rain. As conditions didn't improve after two hours, organizers rescheduled the remaining of the match for Tuesday.

The 19th-ranked Sara Errani of Italy is the top-seeded player at the clay-court event in the Austrian Alps.