Horror injury at Wimbledon

American Bethanie MattekSands was stretchered off court, screaming in pain, after her second-round match at Wimbledon was halted at one set all on Thursday.

The player, who appeared to suffer a knee injury when she stumbled on midcourt at the beginning of the third set, was treated by doctors for more than 20 minutes on court, and given oxygen.

“Help me, help me please,” she screamed, as medics placed her on a stretcher. “It hurts, hurts so much.” Earlier, Novak Djokovic raced into the third round, but has yet to be given a real workout. The three-time champion was in relentless form as he trounced Wimbledon debutant Adam Pavlasek 6-2 6-2 6-1 in little more than 90 minutes. It was Djokovic’s first full match at the tournament after his firstround opponent retired hurt with the Serb leading 6-3 2-0.

Ernests Gulbis sprang a surprise as the world No 589 defeated former US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro 6-4 6-4 7-6 (7/3).

Gulbis will face Djokovic in the third round after scoring his best result in three years.

The 28-year-old was ranked in the top 10 in 2014 — the year he beat Roger Federer en route to the French Open semifinals.

Since then, Gulbis has slumped badly and his Wimbledon opening round win over Victor Estrella was his first in 13 months, after a decline which has seen his ranking crash to his lowest position in 12 years.

Watched by Latvian compatriot and French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, he was in charge from start to finish against Del Potro.

Del Potro, a Wimbledon semifinalist in 2013, was pushed to the brink of retirement after three wrist surgeries.

But the Argentinian 29th seed had surged back to help his country win a maiden Davis Cup title in 2016 and was expected to make a strong run at Wimbledon.