American tennis star Coco Gauff retired in the second set of a highly anticipated match with Alexandra Eala, a budding star from the Philippines, on Sunday night in the PNB Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif.
The top-seeded American at No. 4, Gauff was down 6-2, 2-0 to the 31st-seeded Eala when she withdrew in the third-round match because of pain in her left arm.
Gauff, 21, said afterward that she felt it around the second game of the first set.
“I guess a simple way to put it, it felt like a firework was going off inside of my arm, and then my whole arm felt like it was on fire,” said Gauff, who retired from a match at this level only once before, in 2022 in Cincinnati.
“Yeah, we’re going to figure out what it is tomorrow, but based off the feeling, being told that it’s probably something nerve-related,” she said. “Never had anything like this before, never felt anything, a sensation like this before.
“And then as the match played, it got progressively worse, even when I wasn’t using my arm on shots that I wasn’t even using my left arm for.,” she continued.
Eala, 20, was down 2-1 to open the match before winning the next five games and the first two of the second set.
“I really didn’t want to win this way,” Eala said. “But this is still a really big moment for me to be able to play on Stadium 1 at Indian Wells, against such a great competitor.”
Eala converted 5 of 6 break-point opportunities, to 2 of 3 for Gauff, who had seven double faults to zero for her opponent.
There was no such drama for top seed Aryna Sabalenka, who dispatched Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian 6-4, 6-1. The World No. 1 from Belarus recorded five aces to three double faults and saved five of six break points while converting four of six.
Sabalenka next faces Japan’s Naomi Osaka, the 2018 Indian Wells champion who knocked out Colombia’s Camila Osorio 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 in the third round. Osaka, the 16th seed, has played Sabalenka only once, beating her at the U.S. Open in 2018.
American Amanda Anisimova, the sixth seed, cruised past 25th-seeded Emma Raducanu of Great Britain 6-1, 6-1. Next up is Canadian Victoria Mboko, the 10th seed, who defeated 23rd seed Anna Kalinskaya of Russia 6-4, 6-1.
Italy’s Jasmine Paolini, seeded seventh, outlasted Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic 7-5, 5-7, 6-1. Czech Linda Noskova, the 14th seed, rallied past Romania’s Sorana Cirstea 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-4. Denmark’s Clara Tauson, the 17th seed, was ousted by Australia’s Talia Gibson 7-6 (2), 4-6, 6-4.
–Field Level Media
