Emma Raducanu is through to the second round of the Slovenia Open after winning her first match since her unsuccessful US Open title defence.
British number one Raducanu was leading 6-2 5-3 when her opponent Dayana Yastremska was forced to retire.
The 22-year-old Ukrainian, who is 89th in the world, injured her wrist while 30-0 down serving to stay in the match.
Raducanu, 19, went into the WTA 250 hard-court event as top seed but having slid from 11th to 83rd in the world.
Her first-round defeat by Alize Cornet at Flushing Meadows meant she failed to defend any of the ranking points earned in her victory at last year’s US Open, which remains her only WTA title.
Raducanu rose as high as number 10 in the world on the back of that surprise run as a teenage qualifier but has found her full-time transition to the WTA Tour a testing one.
She was never really troubled by Yastremska, however, breaking three times to take the first set then again in the third game of the second set to assume full control of the match.
Raducanu was two points from victory when her opponent, who had lost her previous seven matches on the WTA Tour, seemed to injure her wrist after losing grip of her racket while following through on a forehand shot.
Her second-round opponent will be either world number 124 Elizabeth Mandlik, from the United States, or Germany’s Anna-Lena Friedsam, who is ranked 95th.
A quirk of the seedings at the Slovenia Open, which are based on world rankings before the US Open, means many of the British top seed’s opponents will now be above her in the world rankings.
Cornet, who ended Raducanu’s hopes in New York, is sixth seed, Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina is third seed and Brazil’s world number 18 Beatriz Haddad Maia, who won on the grass in Birmingham earlier this year, is second seed.
While Raducanu has been sliding down the world rankings, fellow Brit Harriet Dart has moved up three places to 85th following her run to the second round of the US Open.
Dart, 26, is now just two places below Raducanu and putting pressure on her status as Britain’s number one.
