Berlin: Martina Hingis was the first casualty at Berlin's WTA tournament when the Swiss Miss was knocked out in straight sets - and then raised doubts whether she will play in the French Open.
The 26-year-old fourth seed, and former world number one, lost the third round tie to Swiss compatriot Patty Schnyder, ranked 15, 6-4, 6-0 on Thursday and admitted an on-going problem with her back may force her out of Roland Garros on May 28.
Having admitted she struggled to win Wednesday's second round match when she lost the opening set before beating Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko, Hingis said she regretted playing in Berlin when she was clearly less than 100 percent fit.
"It was already a miracle that I won the first-round match and it didn't get any easier against Patty," said the current world number seven, who was playing her first tournament after a six week injury lay-off.
"I've got to take a decision soon on what to do about my future. I will have to see how it goes (for the French Open), I have two weeks, it's not a lot of time.
"I had a problem with the hip flexor and now it has gone to the back, I have to be patient, I haven't been able to do much conditioning work and I was missing the strength.
"The rain delays weren't good for my back, because the effects of the pain killers wore off."
When asked if she will miss next week's WTA event in Rome, Hingis was far from positive.
"It is on my mind, I am not going to make anyone happy, especially myself, if I go to Rome and I am less than 100 per cent.
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"You can do a lot of work to prepare, but I wasn't in good shape coming here."
Hingis's opponent Schnyder was delighted with her win, but gave credit to the former world number one.
"You can not forget she was injured and played in a lot of pain," she said.
It was a far from happy day all round with weather playing havoc with day four of the German Open with only six of the eight third-round matches finished.
Although defending champion Nadia Petrova reached the last eight, putting out fellow Russian and tenth-seed Elena Dementieva with a 6-3, 6-3 win, it was hard going on a stop-start day with barely 90 minutes play before dinner time.
Earlier in the day, Serbian Ivanovic was the first to reach the last eight after her opponent Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko retired in the second set with an ankle injury when she was 5-0 down having lost the first set 6-3.
Germany's final survivor Martina Mueller, who knocked out the 13th seed Shahar Peer to reach the last 16, was comfortably beaten 6-3, 6-2 by third-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova who meets Petrova in the quarter-final.
And Serbian Jelena Jankovic made the last eight after she was handed a win over her Chinese opponent when Peng Shuai was forced to retire despite leading having fought her way back into the game having lost the first set.
World number one Justine Henin Hardenne will now play Italian Maria Elena Camerin today, while second-seed Amelie Mauresmo won the first set 6-2 against Ukrainian Julia Vakulenko until bad light stopped play.
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