Paolini and Keys shared a warm embrace before the distraught 12th seed limped off the court. Her retirement meant that the Italian advanced 6-3 6-7(6) 5-5 into her first Wimbledon quarter-final.
The world No. 7, who had never won a tour-level match on grass until this year, said: “Now I am so sorry for her, to end the match like this is bad. What can I say? I think we played a really good match, was really tough, lots of up and downs. I am feeling a little bit happy but also sad for her because it’s not easy to win like that but I hope you enjoyed the match.”
