Emma Raducanu retired from her first-round match at the Wuhan Open against Ann Li as she struggled with the humid conditions.
Raducanu was 6-1 4-1 down to Li when she decided to retire after a medical timeout, having looked almost dizzy at points in the second set.
The British No 1 is the latest player to retire or withdraw from a tournament in recent weeks during the Asia swing with six-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek criticising the “overwhelming” tennis schedule.
Raducanu is hoping to end the season strongly by remaining in the top 32 on the WTA rankings to ensure she is seeded at January’s Australian Open but it is not clear whether she will now compete in the other China events this month.
Li, who will face Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova in the next round, said: “I want to wish Emma a fast recovery. It looks like she wasn’t feeling good.
“It was a tough match last time, so hopefully she feels better. I’m happy with my performance, I stayed pretty solid for the entire match.”
Raducanu got off to a fast start by breaking Li in the opening game but went on to lose the next six games of the first set in just 28 minutes.
Li simply overpowered Raducanu with great ball-striking while her opponent began to increasingly make unforced errors and was clearly not fully fit.
Raducanu made four double faults at the start of the second set, bending down, signalling that she could retire but somehow managed to hold serve.
Emma Raducanu looked all out of sorts in her straight sets defeat to Ann Li
However, the match went away from her again as Li won four consecutive games before Raducanu called for the trainer to take a blood pressure and temperature test, then soon shook hands with Li.
Also on Tuesday, Naomi Osaka beat Leylah Fernandez 4-6 7-5 6-3 and Amanda Anisimova withdrew from the tournament due to a calf injury following her triumph at the China Open on Sunday.
Former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenka retired when trailing Romania’s Sorana Cirstea 6-0 2-1 but Iga Swiatek thrashed Czechia’s Marie Bouzkova 6-1 6-1.
Djokovic struggles through
At the Shanghai Masters, Novak Djokovic overcame a draining test to beat Jaume Munar.
Djokovic survived a significant injury scare before coming through a three-set thriller to win 6-3 5-7 6-2. Immediately after breaking the Spaniard in the first set to go 3-1 up, Djokovic hobbled to his seat and called for the trainer, pointing at his left Achilles and calf.
Initially he struggled to move around the court but played through the pain by keeping the points short and never came under threat on his service games to claim the first set.
Novak Djokovic progressed at the Shanghai Masters
Munar upped his intensity in the second set and the match turned into a hugely physical battle. Djokovic recovered from 0-30 down on his opening two service games and saved a break point in the eighth game to make it 4-4.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion looked exhausted and Munar finally made a breakthrough following an extraordinary rally on his second break point chance which also gave him the set.
Djokovic dramatically fell to the floor and needed to be helped up by a physio but decided to continue into a deciding set.
He managed to take command of it, breaking Munar early in the set. Pressing hard for second break in the final set Djokovic slipped and fell awkwardly. But he rose, took the break and served out the match.
He will next play Zizou Bergs who beat Canada’s Gabriel Diallo 3-6 7-5 7-6 (10-8).
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