Harmony Tan, 107th in the world, was forced to retire at the very end of the match in the second round of the Australian Open against Ukrainian Elina Svitolina (17th), victim of a left calf injury.
The Frenchwoman, who was 24 at her first Australian Major, trailed 6-3, 5-7, 5-1 when she threw in the towel on her serve before leaving the court in a wheelchair.
To discover
Australian Open: men's schedule and results
Australian Open: ladies schedule and results
Playing for the first time in her career in such a big venue as the Margaret Court Arena, she did everything to finish the match.
But she ended up following the advice of the referee who advised her to give up so as not to aggravate an injury which was visibly making her suffer more and more.
“
It's always terrible to get injured in the middle of a game.
I hope she will be able to come back soon
,” sympathized Svitolina.
Led 3-0 then 5-1 in the 1st set, Tan had managed to get back into the game, in particular by provoking, thanks to inconsistent balls, numerous unforced errors from Svitolina (43 in total, including 31 on her forehand ).
Without playing well, the Ukrainian got a first match point on her serve at 5-4 in the second set, but she finally let Tan equalize at one set everywhere.
In the deciding set, Svitolina quickly broke away as Tan looked increasingly handicapped.
The Frenchwoman was treated at the change of sides at 4-1.
Back on the court with a big bandage on her left calf, she could hardly move and the end of the match looked like a nightmare.
On her final game, disoriented by the pain, she was only able to serve with a spoon.
After a double fault, on the advice of the referee, she gave up before the second point.
In the first round, Tan had clearly dominated the Kazakh Yulia Putintseva (42nd) 6-3, 6-3.
For her part, Svitolina will face the former world No.1 and double winner in Melbourne Victoria Azarenka (25th) for a place in the round of 16.
Semi-finalist at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2019, the Ukrainian has never gone beyond the quarters (2018 and 2019) in Melbourne.
