A distressed Italian Lucia Bronzetti has retired from her opening round match at the US Open with her opponent Lauren Davis just two points away from victory.
Davis was serving at 4-6, 7-6, 5-4 when Bronzetti lunged to her right to try to return a serve. She was unsuccessful, leaving the score at 30-30, but the Italian fell to the ground in tears, clutching her left calf.
She’d cramped up in the humid New York conditions, having been on court 10 for 3h 12m.
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The 23-year-old lay in agony at the baseline for an eternity before the trainer arrived, before limping to her seat as the crowd gave her a standing ovation.
Following more treatment, Bronzetti attempted to continue, before telling the umpire it was impossible, breaking down in tears again at the net as she congratulated her opponent.
Her decision to retire was in stark contrast to that of fellow Italian Lorenzo Sonego, who found himself in a similar situation on Tuesday against Australia’s Jordan Thompson. Sonego was also battling cramps, but chose to stand on the baseline, making no attempt to return serve, in order for Thompson to close out the match.
Bronzetti came into the tournament at a career-high 59 in the rankings, having recorded her only grand slam match victory to date at this year’s Australian Open, where she made the second round as a qualifier before falling to eventual champion Ash Barty.
For Davis, she advanced to the second round of the US Open for the fourth time in her career, where she’ll play the winner of the match between American wildcard Peyton Stearns and the 28th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova.
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