Iga Swiatek dropped to her knees on the court and clutched at her midsection after getting hit by a ball during a point in the Paris Olympics singles quarterfinals Wednesday, but it was her opponent, Danielle Collins of the United States, who stopped playing later in the third set.
Swiatek, a five-time Grand Slam champion who is the top-seeded woman at the Summer Games, was leading 6-2, 1-6, 4-1 when Collins retired from the match after taking a medical timeout because of an injured stomach muscle, then getting another visit from a trainer.
Collins, a 30-year-old from Sarasota, Florida, who was the runner-up at the 2022 Australian Open and has announced she will retire from elite-level tennis after this season, said she cramped and went into convulsions because of dehydration and exhaustion after competing in heat that reached 97 degrees Fahrenheit on Tuesday.
She blamed Olympics organizers for not having insulated water bottles, for the water not being cool enough and for not “prioritizing the health of the athletes.”
In the opening game of the final set, with Collins serving at deuce, she directed a backhand down the middle of the court. Swiatek was up at the net and was unable to get out of the way of the shot.
Swiatek looked stunned as she let go of her white racket and stopped down on the red clay at Court Suzanne Lenglen. Collins — who asked, “Iga, are you OK?” — walked around the net to check on Swiatek, and chair umpire Damien Dumusois climbed out of his perch to see how the world’s No. 1 player was, too.
Swiatek eventually rose and nodded to indicate she could continue.
Three points later, Collins pushed a forehand long and Swiatek had a break. Soon, she would break again to lead 3-0 in that set, and Collins left the court for a medical timeout that delayed the action for about five minutes.
When they resumed, it quickly became 4-0, before Collins took a game. But then she conceded the match.
Swiatek is seeking her first Olympic medal at a place she knows so well. The 23-year-old from Poland has won four of the past five championships at the French Open, the Grand Slam tournament held each year at Roland Garros, the same site being used for tennis at these Games.
In the semifinals Thursday, Swiatek will face sixth-seeded Zheng Qinwen of China. Zheng, who reached the final at the Australian Open in January, eliminated Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (6) on Wednesday.
Kerber is a three-time major champion and former No. 1-ranked player who has said she will retire after these Olympics.
The other women’s singles semifinal will be Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia against Donna Vekic of Croatia — who beat Coco Gauff in the third round — or Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine.
After losing in singles yesterday, Coco Gauff lost again on Wednesday and was eliminated from women’s Olympic doubles with her partner Jessica Pegula.
Schimiedlova defeated Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-2, following up a win against Wimbledon runner-up Jasmine Paolini in the third round.
Krejcikova was seeded ninth in Paris and has fared well on the clay courts at Roland Garros, winning the 2021 French Open singles and doubles trophies.
But with the heat at 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 Celsius) and the air thick with humidity, Krejcikova looked listless down the stretch against Schmiedlova, a 29-year-old who is ranked 67th and owns one fourth-round appearance at a Slam. That came last year at Roland Garros.
By the end, Krejcikova appeared spent and was barely moving. She slapped a forehand into the net to finish the match, and Schmiedlova raised both arms overhead.
In men’s action, 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic defeated Dominik Koepfer of Germany 7-5, 6-3 to get to the Olympics quarterfinals for the fourth time. Djokovic won a bronze at the 2008 Beijing Games, but never has won a gold.
Djokovic now meets Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece in a rematch of the 2021 French Open final. Tsitsipas took the first two sets that day, before Djokovic came back to win in five.
Olympics tennis uses a best-of-three-set format for all matches.
In other men’s third-round results, Carlos Alcaraz of Spain got past Roman Safiulin of Russia 6-4, 6-2, Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada beat Daniil Medvedev of Russia 63, 7-6 (5), Tommy Paul of the U.S. was a 7-6 (6), 6-3 winner against Corentin Moutet of France — the last tennis player from the host country in any Olympic event — and Taylor Fritz of the U.S. got knocked out of singles by Lorenzo Musetti of Italy 6-4, 7-5.