Australian Open rocked by retirements as star leaves court in wheelchair and Brit in tears | Tennis | Sport

Three players have already retired mid-match, just hours into day two of the Australian Open. No.7 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime called it quits at the beginning of the fourth set of his match against Nuno Borges on the John Cain Arena and later admitted that he had been cramping.

British No.3 Francesca Jones, who had made it into the main draw of a Grand Slam on her own ranking for the first time in her career, and Canadian qualifier Marina Stakusic then retired within minutes of each other on Monday afternoon.

Jones was broken twice in the first set, losing it 6-2, and received treatment from the physio for a leg issue at the end of the set. But she continued to struggle in set two and looked defeated as she went to grab her towel, telling her team that her thigh was bothering her.

The world No.71 received more treatment in the first changeover of set two and considered retiring, but played on. Jones saw the physio again in the next changeover and could be heard audibly sobbing as she lay on the court.

The Brit finally called it quits with her opponent, qualifier Linda Klimovicova, leading 6-2 3-2, and was emotional as she walked off Court 15. Jones also retired in the quarter-finals of the recent ASB Classic in Auckland, where she had earned her biggest career win over Emma Navarro in the first round.

She then withdrew from last week’s Hobart International and, ahead of the Aussie Open, said: “Having to pull out of Hobart this week, obviously, I need to rebuild a little bit coming into this event.”

Over on the ANZ Arena, qualifier Stakusic retired moments later while facing Aussie wildcard Priscilla Hon. Stakusic raced through the opening set 6-1 but received treatment after dropping the second set. Hon also called the physio during the third set, and blew a 3-0 lead to draw level again at 3-3.

But Stakusic was visibly cramping by the middle of the third set. She held for 3-3 but lay back on the court as her leg cramped up again, and the umpire raced over. The physio was called again as Stakusic lay on the court, and Hon came over to check on her opponent, helping her up.

The 21-year-old played on but struggled to walk as the match went on, and was broken to trail 3-5. She doubled over, grabbing her left thigh, and went down on the court again in pain. Again, Hon, the umpire, and physios came over, and Stakusic decided to retire as the umpire announced that Hon had advanced 1-6 6-4 5-3 ret. Stakusic was in tears as a wheelchair was brought over to help her off the court.

Fellow Canadian star Auger-Aliassime had already retired earlier in the day. He called the physio after going two sets to one down against Borges and attempted to play on, but managed just one point before retiring. “I just started cramping at the start of the third set. Yeah, it became very difficult to be competitive at this level. I tried for a set, but yeah, wasn’t possible today,” he later said.

“I just knew it wasn’t heading in the right direction. I don’t like to be on the court that way. I want to be on the court winning. I want to be on the court competing with my opponent. I don’t want to be just standing there, you know, like a punching bag. So there’s no point, and you know to move on.”