Misa Eguchi suffered heartbreak in the Dalian Women's Open final as a knee injury forced her to retire when leading 5-2 in the deciding set against Kristyna Pliskova.

The seventh seed had fought back in China to lead 5-7 6-4 5-2 and was even 0-30 up on Pliskova's serve.

However, Eguchi fell hard when chasing down a ball on court and was immediately attended to by physios during a medical timeout.

She attempted to continue with heavy strapping on her leg, but buckled under the pain of her injury and was taken off court on a stretcher.

Pliskova, whose twin sister Karolina lost the US Open final to new world number one Angelique Kerber, was consequently announced as the winner due to Eguchi's retirement.