WIMBLEDON, England — French Open runner-up Jasmine Paolini reached her first Wimbledon quarterfinal when Madison Keys retired with a foot injury at 5-5 in the third set of their fourth-round match on Sunday.
Keys served for the match at 5-2 in the final set but then began limping more and needed a medical timeout to have work done on her left leg after Paolini made it 5-4. She had tape on her left thigh when she served for the match a second time, but her leg buckled again — double-faulting on break point — and was in tears by the end of that game, her movements visibly limited.
Keys tried to continue playing, but the American eventually went to the net and told the No. 1 Court chair umpire that she was retiring after Paolini hit an ace at 15-15 in the final game.
The Italian won the first set 6-3, while Keys won the second 7-6 (6).
When the score was 5–2, Keys was two points away from victory.
“I feel very sorry for him. It’s bad for the match to end like that,” Paolini said in an on-court interview. “What can I say? We played a really good match. It was really tough. There were a lot of ups and downs. I’m a bit happy, but also sad for him. It’s not easy to win like that.”
Paolini is the fifth Italian woman to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals in the professional era and will try to become the first to reach the semifinals. Later on Centre Court, she will face the winner of the match between No. 2 Coco Gauff and 19th-seeded Emma Navarro.
Keys was attempting to reach the last eight at the All England Club for the second consecutive year and third overall.
Donna Vekic advanced by beating Paula Badosa 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 in a stop-start match on No. 2 Court that was interrupted several times by rain. Vekic will play in her first Wimbledon quarterfinal, her 10th appearance at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament.
