Garbrine Muguruza was forced to retire from the Brisbane International for a fourth year in a row amid shocking scenes on court.
Muguruza, who had the chance to overhaul Simona Halep at the top of the world rankings this week, had won the first set against Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic 7-5.
But she lost the second set in a tie-break and was clearly struggling physically.
However, after a visit from coach Sam Sumyk, she was urged to carry on and even managed to force a break of serve in the decider.
But after hitting a serve at 2-1, 30-15, she collapsed on the baseline clutching her right calf, which was visibly cramping.
Muguruza won Wimbledon in 2017 but now faces a race against time to get fit in time for the first Grand Slam of the year: the Australian Open starts in Melbourne on January 15.
And the Spaniard was wished a speedy recovery by her opponent Krunic, who will now face Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova in the quarter-final of the Brisbane International.
“It’s definitely not a nice feeling,” Krunic said.
“First of all me as an athlete, to see my colleague walking out of court, not being able to finish the match: it’s definitely a disappointment.
“Even though we can all say ‘we’re going to the next round, blah blah blah…’ the match is not overand there was a lot of play still for us and for you guys so definitely I’m not happy with what happened today.
“I just wanted to wish Garbine a fast recovery and I hope she gets better.”
