Johanna Konta, shortly to be installed as Britain’s No1, continued her fine recent form against Victoria Azarenka in the second round of the Wuhan Open in China.
Advertisement
Swiss teenager Bencic retired after just 38 minutes, at the end of a first set against unseeded Italian Camila Giorgi also with a thigh injury.
In what was the pair’s first meeting, Jankovic reeled off six straight games in the first set to bounce back from being 3-0 down, as Watson was made to pay for not taking her chance to pull four ahead.
However, Venus Williams contributed the feel-good story of the day when she celebrated her 700th career win – only the ninth player to do so.
Konta, the world number 63, will replace Heather Watson as British number one in next week’s rankings.
Konta will face either top seed Simona Halep or Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in round three.
In the opener the Belarusian beat World No.74 Lauren Davis of the United States 6-2, 7-6 (7-4).
Advertisement
“I got really exhausted during the second set already. It’s kind of surprise for me, as well”, said the double Wimbledon champion.
