Australian tennis battler Jason Kubler has been cleared of a broken ankle after suffering another shattering injury blow at the US Open.
The luckless 25-year-old was sent to a New York hospital for scans after being forced to retire from his second-round match against American young gun Taylor Fritz after rolling his ankle late in the third set.
Kubler had been closing in on the most significant win of his stop-start career before disaster struck and, unable to serve or run, he reluctantly called it quits while trailing 6-3 3-6 6-3.
After fighting back from a break down in the set to be holding game point serving at 3-4, Kubler crumpled to the court in despair.
His right foot got stuck in the sticky cement surface while reaching for a forehand on another baking hot day at Flushing Meadows.
After several minutes of treatment from the tour physio, Kubler received generous applause from the crowd as he hobbled to his changeover chair to have the ankle taped.
He gamely played on but, immediately upon the resumption from his medical time-out, the Queenslander hit two weak forehand errors to gift Fritz a break before the American closed out the set as Kubler walked gingerly back to his chair.
With the US Open's new heat rule in effect, the two players opted to take a 10-minute break.
But it didn't help, with Kubler playing only two points of the fourth set before conceding.
Kubler's latest crushing blow comes two days after he savoured his first-ever win at a grand slam after waiting eight years between majors due to six rounds of knee surgery.
A win over Fritz would have earned Kubler at least $213,000.
Instead the former world No.1 junior had to settle for a life-changing pay day of $127,000 for reaching the second round - after admitting to having only 14 cents in the bank last year as he languished at 945th in the rankings.
Kubler is also projected to climb to a career-high world No.90 after the Open.
