For a second there I thought Bali was immune to the "limping to the finish line" theme. Shame on me for forgetting that Marion was involved.
I didn't see the match, but from the pictures it looked like Mono was in some real pain and did try to fight through the injury. She actually had set point at 5-2 in the first before Rezai was able to reel off the next 5 games. After that, Mono retired in tears, giving Rezai the title and her Top 30 ranking.
And as if it couldn't be more ironic, the retirement means Mono will stay outside of the Top 10, allowing her the opportunity to play as many tourneys as she wants next year.
Look, I have no doubt that she was hurt this time. But at what point do you not look around and realize that you've retired from so many frickin' matches relative to other WTAers, that clearly there is something wrong with your training regimen. It's really ridiculous and, honestly, irresponsible.
All that said, mucho congrats to Aravane! A nice little cap to the season.
