Shanghai Masters quarter-final suddenly ends after 22 minutes as player calls for help
The first quarter-final match at the Shanghai Masters has come to a premature end after Arthur Gea was forced to retire just 22 minutes into Thursday’s clash with Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. The Frenchman quickly went a double break down and called the physio for help, receiving a three-minute medical timeout. He played just three more points before calling it quits, and looked “close to tears” according to commentators.
The world No. 56 was broken immediately to start the match, before coming through a lengthy service game to get on the board. But he went a double break down and trailed 1-4 when he called the trainer to the court. “Uh-oh,” commentator Nick Lester said as the physio came out. “Knee issues, or is it hip?” Robbie Koenig replied.
Lee Goodall, who was on the ground in Shanghai, clarified: “I think he was just pointing to his groin, maybe. It seemed like he had a chat with the umpire midway through that previous game. Maybe that’s the reason why he has just started slowly today.”
Gea lay down on a towel on the floor to receive treatment from the physio, as Goodall admitted he hadn’t seen any real indications of this injury. “Not particularly, if I’m honest with you,” he told the two commentators in the booth. “Initially, I just thought it was nerves in that first service game. It was a shocker of a service game, particularly with the very first serve he hit, he just lost the ball toss. So I was just thinking, maybe he’s just feeling it a bit.”
Gea winced in pain and repeatedly covered his face with his hand as the physio continued to work around his groin and hip. He played on after the three-minute medical timeout, as 25th seed Davidovich Fokina served to extend his lead.
The Spaniard got to 40-0 on his serve at 4-1 when Gea shook his head and decided he couldn’t continue, walking to the net to shake hands with his opponent. “Would you believe it?” Lester said. “What a shame for Arthur Gea, who did look as though he was close to tears there as he shook hands. Have to feel for him, such a good run comes to a crashing conclusion here in Shanghai.
It’s the second time in two days that a match has prematurely ended via retirement in Shanghai. On Wednesday, fourth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime seemed to pick up a knee injury early in his match against Casper Ruud and retired while 2-5 down after 35 minutes.
Gea has been enjoying a breakthrough season. He started the year ranked outside the top 200, and since July, he’s won his maiden title, reached the second week of the US Open as a lucky loser, and now made it to the quarter-finals on his Masters 1000 main-draw debut. But his run here has come to an unfortunate end.
After advancing to the semi-finals via retirement, Davidovich Fokina said: “I knew that he was playing very good these couple weeks. He was doing a very good swing in China, and he won very good matches here on the centre court, so I knew that he has that confidence, but you never know.
“At the end, I was playing two, three tiebreaks in the third [set] so I was ready for another battle. At the end, I wanted to play, to feel my body, to see how I recover my body. But at the end, I want to improve this kind of situations. So I feel sorry for him because he’s a nice guy, but in the other part, I’m happy to be in the semi-finals.”
The 25th seed also admitted he didn’t realise Gea was struggling. “No, because in the first game, I played very good so I broke him very quick. And at the end, I didn’t see him until the last game that he was not moving well. I knew maybe he would continue a couple of games, see how he would react, but I was putting everything in,” he added.
