Sabalenka v Suarez Navarro in New Haven final

Carla Suarez Navarro will play for the Connecticut Open championship despite completing just one full match this week and playing less than four sets.

The 29-year-old Spaniard advanced on Friday to the final when Monica Puig of Puerto Rico retired during their first set of their semifinal with an abdominal injury.

Suarez Navarro will face Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, who upset fifth-seeded Julia Goerges of Germany 6-4 7-6(3) in the first semifinal.

SNAPSHOT: Aryna Sabalenka – ‘keep calm and go for it’

“I feel like I didn’t play and I’m in the final,” Suarez Navarro said. “But, well, I cannot do nothing.”

Suarez Navarro won her first match against Barbora Strycova in straight sets. Her second-round opponent, Johanna Konta, withdrew with an illness.

She was leading 6-3 in the quarterfinals on Thursday when third-seeded Petra Kvitova bowed out with a shoulder injury.

Puig was leading 4-3 after exchanging service breaks with Suarez Navarro when she left the court holding her abdomen.

The reigning Olympic champion returned five minutes later, lost the next game, then approached the net in tears and announced she could not continue.

Monica Puig is forced to retire with the first set tied at 4-4.@CarlaSuarezNava advances to face @SabalenkaA in the @connecticutopen final. pic.twitter.com/HYRz59yZCK

— WTA (@WTA) August 24, 2018

“It was a bit of an abdominal strain that I started feeling in my second service game,” she said.

“I just gradually got worse from there. Obviously with the US Open so close, it’s better not to make it worse.”

The 24-year-old said she is hopeful of playing in her first round match in New York against Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland on Tuesday.

Puig’s injury was the latest in a string of problems for the Connecticut Open that began when top-seeded Simona Halep withdrew with a right Achilles injury just before the start of the tournament.

Illness forced out sixth-seeded Australian Ashleigh Barty and seventh-seeded Kiki Bertens.

All of them are expected to play next week in the US Open.

Johnson v Medvedev in Winston-Salem final

Eighth-seeded Steve Johnson advanced to the Winston-Salem Open final Friday night, beating second-seeded Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain 6-3 6-4.

Johnson will face Daniil Medvedev of Russia, a 6-1 6-1 winner over Japan’s Taro Daniel in the first semifinal in the US Open tune-up event at Wake Forest Tennis Center.

Johnson, 28, successfully defended his Houston clay title in April and won at Newport on grass in July. The American also won on grass in 2016 at Nottingham.

Medvedev, 22, won in Sydney in January for his first ATP Tour title.

In the doubles final, second-seeded Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands and Horia Tecau of Hungary successfully defended their title, beating Jamie Cerretani of the United States and Leander Paes of India, 6-4 6-2.

Rojer and Tecau are the defending US Open doubles champions.