American Madison Keys has left Wimbledon in tears after being forced to retire with a hamstring injury against Jasmine Paolini.
The 12th seed fought back from a set down to square the match after an absorbing tiebreaker and then looked on track to for a memorable victory when she led 5-2 in the decider.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Keys forced to retire in heartbreaking scenes.
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But disaster struck when she suffered a hamstring injury when serving for the match.
She received treatment and went off the court before returning with her leg heavily strapped up.
Keys bravely fought on, but eventually called it a day at 5-5 in devastating scenes.
“Absolutely horrendous scenes on Court 1,” prominent journalist Jose Morgado said.
Fans were left gutted by the scenes.
“A sad ending to an incredible match,” the official Wimbledon account tweeted.
“I don’t think anyone could look at that ending and not be upset for her. It’s an awful way for a match to end,” one fan said.
“Tough to watch. She’d been playing some outstanding tennis. Hamstrings are miserable, miserable injuries,” another fan said.
Paolini, the seventh seed, immediately felt sorry for her opponent.
“I’m very sorry for her,” she said after the match.
“It’s sad after a really good match. Really tough, lots of up and downs. I feel a bit happy but also sad for her because it’s not easy to win like that.”
Elsewhere, another extraordinary shock-laden day in the women’s singles at Wimbledon has ended with No.2 seed Coco Gauff being knocked out and a new Centre Court star Lulu Sun having risen.
Gauff was outplayed by her brilliant fellow American Emma Navarro 6-4 6-3 on Centre Court on Sunday in the last-16, ensuring that all three top seeds are now out of yet another open women’s tournament.
World No.123 Sun, the first New Zealand woman for 65 years to make the last-16, also booked her place in the quarter-finals, continuing her astonishing run through qualifying to end Emma Raducanu’s — and Britain’s — hopes with a 6-2 5-7 6-2 victory, also on a deflated Centre Court.
US Open champion Gauff was the picture of disappointment, as once again she failed to make it past the last-16 at the event where she first became a 15-year-old star.
The more mistakes she made, the stronger 19th seed Navarro seemed to become, producing an accomplished display to become one of four first-time quarter-finalists at this Wimbledon.
The 23-year-old New Yorker Navarro, daughter of a billionaire financier who was watching from her team box, will next face Paolini.
Sun’s victory left home fans downhearted after Raducanu’s best run since she won the 2021 US Open as a qualifier was finally ended by the cosmopolitan New Zealander, who is threatening to emulate the Briton’s achievement of going all the way to a grand slam title.
Sun will next face Croatian Donna Vekic, who reached the last eight by defeating Spain’s Paula Badosa 6-2 1-6 6-4 after a long, rain-interrupted match, a result that guarantees there will be an unseeded semi-finalist.
The 23-year-old Sun, who is the first qualifier to reach the women’s last eight since Kaia Kanepi in 2010, has been left delighted by all the support she’s received from people following her odyssey.
“I feel the energy from people around the world. I’m super grateful from wherever it’s coming from. Just a little support comes a long way,” said the left-hander Sun, who has a Chinese mother, a Croatian father and German-English stepfather.
Afterwards, Raducanu, who never really got going and also took a tumble in the final set, defended her decision to pull out of mixed doubles with Andy Murray in what was supposed to be his final event at Wimbledon.
Raducanu had withdrawn on Saturday, citing a stiff racquet wrist, prompting Murray’s mother Judy to brand the decision “astonishing” before she later insisted on Sunday that she was only being sarcastic.
Raducanu said: “I’m sure she didn’t mean it.”
But she added her decision to pull out was a “no-brainer”.
“Of course, I didn’t want to take his last match away from him. But, at the end of the day, I think a lot of the players in a similar situation would have done the same thing.”
– With AAP