Australia's top woman player was giving the recently-crowned US Open champion Swiatek all manner of trouble in their fascinating second round clash at the Ostrava Open on Wednesday before having to give best to her sore left knee.
Having lost the marathon opening set 7-5, Tomljanovic was still battling superbly in a draining second stanza, levelling at two games all before she decided, to the surprise of the Czech crowd, that the discomfort meant it would be unwise to carry on.
After one hour 43 minutes in which the world No.34 had gone toe-to-toe with the game's best player from the baseline and often got the better of her, Tomljanovic was still looking very threatening when she called it a day.
But the 29-year-old, who had her knee checked out by a physio at the previous changeover, evidently did not want to aggravate the problem with half an eye on next month's Billie Jean King Cup finals in Glasgow, where she'll be the Australian team's singles spearhead.
Still, it was a shame such an impressive display should end in anti-climax, with even Swiatek recognising how excellent Tomljanovic had been.
"It seems she's really on a roll and playing better and better. It was a great match and it's unfortunate that something like that happened," said the Pole on court after sympathising with Tomljanovic.
"I hope she recovers quickly because she's been playing better and better I think."
It was another significant performance from Tomljanovic in a terrific year during which she's reached two grand slam quarter-finals, at Wimbledon and Flushing Meadows, where she also brought the curtain down on Serena Williams' career with her now-celebrated third-round triumph.
Back in the same playing outfit that she wore in that victory over the world's greatest-ever player, Tomljanovic looked this time to be getting a big-hitting lesson from the 22-year-old Swiatek, who raced into a 4-1 lead in her first match since beating Ons Jabeur for the US crown.
Showing no signs of ring rust, Swiatek was steamrollering Tomljanovic just as she had recently in the Canadian Open but the Australian hit back, going for broke fearlessly with her own tracers.
Producing real brilliance at 4-2 down, Tomljanovic conjured up an unlikely cross-court forehand winner off the backfoot and then a backhand bullet winner that earned her a break back.
At 5-6 down, Tomljanovic saved a set point with another bold winner, but got unlucky when Swiatek took the draining 66-minute set with the help of a net cord.
Showing no signs of disappointment, the new, more steely 2022 version of Tomljanovic burst back to earn an immediate break in the second set, forcing Swiatek to summon some of her very best tennis to level the match.Â
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