Jasmine Paolini won one of the shortest matches in U.S. Open history after Karolina Pliskova withdrew after three points with an injury.
Paolini and Pliskova were at 15-all in the opening game when Pliskova appeared to injure her left foot and/or ankle moving laterally on the baseline during a point.
Pliskova received medical attention on the left foot and/or ankle while sitting on her chair and retired from the match.
“It’s so sad,” Paolini said in an-court interview. “I hope she recovers really soon because it’s bad to leave the court like this. I don’t know what to say because we didn’t play a match. It’s not good for tennis.”
U.S. OPEN DRAWS: Women | Men | Order of Play
Paolini, the No. 5 seed from Italy, advanced to a third-round match Saturday against No. 30 seed Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan.
Paolini, 28, was the runner-up at the French Open and Wimbledon after never previously making it past the second round of a major before this year.
Pliskova, a 32-year-old Czech, was the U.S. Open runner-up in 2016 and the world No. 1 for eight weeks in 2017. She is now ranked 44th.
Paolini and Pliskova’s short match came two days after the longest match in modern U.S. Open history. Dan Evans beat Karen Khachanov in 5 hours, 35 minutes on Tuesday.
Paolini-Pliskova, which lasted six minutes, was not the shortest match in U.S. Open history, according to tennis historian Randy Walker, who cited a 1972 first-round match where American Chico Hagey withdrew after one point with a broken right leg against Frenchman Georges Goven.
Later Thursday, No. 4 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan became the highest women’s or men’s seed to exit, withdrawing before a scheduled second-round match against 143rd-ranked Frenchwoman Jessika Ponchet.
“Unfortunately, I have to withdraw from my match today due to my injuries,” Rybakina said in a statement, according to the WTA. “I did not want to finish the last Grand Slam of the year this way, but I have to listen to my body, and I hope I can close out the remainder of the year strong.”
That leaves Paolini as the only player in her quarter of the draw seeded in the top 14.