Watson was 7-5, 4-1 down against fellow Brit Sonay Kartal when she was forced to retire.

She had called for a physio early in the second set to deal with a problem in her right leg and attempts to continue proved futile.

“My plan was to fly to Spain tomorrow for the next tournament, but I don’t think that’s going to be happening,” said Watson in a court side interview afterwards.

“So I did have a couple more tournaments on on the schedule, but I’ll see how this goes and and I definitely will give myself a bit of a break at the end of the year this year so I can start next year fresh, because I want to play as long as I can, because I love it.

“I love playing, especially on courts like this, on days like today, coming out and every seat is fall, I just appreciate it so much more now.”

Watson had battled back from going 4-1 down in the first to lead 5-4 before Kartal, who did not drop a set all tournament, fought back to take it 7-5.

The Lexus W100 Shrewsbury is the biggest UK indoor women’s tennis tournament.

Watson had beaten Simona Waltert in the semi, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.

She has risen 23 places in the world rankings to 134.

Pictured top: W100 Shrewsbury Facebook post to preview the final.