French tennis player Harmony Tan's Australian Open campaign has come to a heartbreaking end, with the 24-year-old taken from Melbourne's Margaret Court Arena in a wheelchair after retiring midway through her second-round clash with Ukraine's Elina Svitolina.
Tan tried to battle on through a calf injury but was down 1-5 in the final set before she finally succumbed to the pain.
The chair umpire advised Tan to retire and leave Margaret Court Arena in a wheelchair.
An emotional Tan was wheeled off the court to the applause of the sparse crowd.
"It's always horrible for any athlete to get injured in the competition and, hopefully, Harmony can recover and get back soon on the court," Svitolina said after the match.
"She played really well — it took me a little bit of time to come back into the match."
Tan was up against it, trailing 6-3, 5-7, 5-1, but there was little question she was seriously hampered by the injury.
Svitolina, the 15th seed, will progress to take on Victoria Azarenka in the third round after the Belarussian thumped Swiss Jil Teichmann, 6-1, 6-2.
Meanwhile, Spaniard Paula Badosa swept past Italy's Martina Trevisan 6-0, 6-3 on Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday to stretch her unbeaten summer run to seven matches.
Badosa credited a win over world number one Ash Barty — at the Charleston Open in April — as the spark that has ignited her career.
"I worked very hard last year, but I think there was a key moment but it was after winning [over] Ash Barty," Badosa said on Wednesday.
"She's the best player in the world — the number says it because she's an amazing player and, for me, beating her was amazing.
"After that moment, I felt that everything was possible and I could win [against] any player."
ABC/AAP
