Watch: Bianca Andreescu leaves court in a wheelchair after horrific injury at Miami Open 2023
Bianca Andreescu's fourth-round match at the 2023 Miami Open took an unfortunate turn, as she suffered a scary injury in the second set and left the court in a wheelchair moments later. A teary-eyed Andreescu was seen in excruciating pain as she was escorted off the court.
The in-form Canadian star lost the opening set to Ekaterina Alexandrova in a tie-break but broke right away at the start of the second for a 2-0 lead. She then slipped and fell in the third game of the set and started screaming in pain, holding her left leg/ankle area.
After being tended to by the on-court medical staff, Andreescu forefeited the match and left the court as there was simply no way she could continue playing. The Canadian received a standing ovation from the crowd as she left the court in tears.
Sad scenes as Bianca Andreescu is forced to retire due to an ankle injury and leaves the court on a wheelchair 😔
Ekaterina Alexandrova advances to the #MiamiOpen Quarterfinals with a 7-6 (0), 0-2 ret. win. https://t.co/efAcBJukfn
The moment was reminiscent of Alexander Zverev's injury at the 2022 French Open, which required surgery and forced him to miss more than six months on the tour. Hopefully for Andreescu and her legion of fans, there is better news ahead.
The 22-year-old was in a rich vein of form at Miami this week. Andreescu beat two former Grand Slam champions and a top-10 player to reach the fourth round.
She started her campaign with a three-set win over Emma Raducanu, before taking out 7th seed Maria Sakkari in the second round. Andreescu then beat former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin 6-4, 6-4 in the Round of 32.
Bianca Andreescu had been showing signs of a resurgence in 2023
Bianca Andreescu was enjoying one of her best runs of the 2023 season at the Miami Open this week before Monday's incident.
Earlier in the year, she lost early at Adelaide 1 and the Australian Open, before reaching the semifinals of the Thailand Open. She then bowed out in the opening round of both the Abu Dhabi Open and the Dubai Tennis Championships, losing to Australian Open finalist Elena Rybakina at the latter event.
Andreescu exited Indian Wells in the Round of 32 with a 3-6, 6-7(1) defeat at the hands of Iga Swiatek. Although she couldn't beat Swiatek, the 2019 US Open champion showed plenty of encouraging signs in that match.
Andreescu has a Round of 16 run at the Madrid Open and a quarter-final run at the Italian Open to defend during the claycourt season. By the looks of it, she now faces a serious race against time to be ready for those events.