Injury accounts for Barthel in Strasbourg, Brengle bows out
Eighth seed Mona Barthel had to retire in her Internationaux de Strasbourg first-round match with Virginie Razzano due to injury.
Mona Barthel's hopes of winning the Internationaux de Strasbourg ended when she retired from her first-round match against Virginie Razzano due to a wrist injury, while seventh seed Madison Brengle crashed out on Sunday.
Barthel, seeded eight, was trailing 6-2 and it was 5-5 in the second set when the German cut short a tournament that features only two of the 20 players in the world.
Razzano racked up nine double faults, but battled to save eight break points and claimed three breaks of her own before injury got the better of Barthel.
Barthel was broken four times in the first set was leading 5-3 when she was broken for the first time in the second set and was 40-0 down in the following game when she decided she was unable to continue.
Brengle lost a semi-final to Ajla Tomljanovic in Macon the last time the two met in 2013 and was unable to gain revenge as she was beaten 6-1 6-1 in just 47 minutes.
Tomljanovic sent down five aces and the American failed to earn a solitary break point as her opponent produced a ruthless display to ease into the second round.
Sloane Stephens faired better than her compatriot Brengle, seeing off qualifier Nadiia Kichenok 6-3 6-0 in an hour, while Shelby Rogers was another American winner on Sunday as Aleksandra Krunic was beaten 6-1 6-1.
Saisai Zheng overcame a one-sided second set to account for Su-Wei Hsieh 6-4 0-6 6-2 in just less than two hours, while Lesia Tsurenko was a 6-4 7-6 (7-4) winner against Varvara Lepchenko.
Elena Vesnina will also feature in the second round following her 6-4 6-2 success against Gabriela Dabrowski in the final game of the day.