Ajla Tomljanovic has been forced to miss her opening United Cup match through injury. -AP
A knee injury has forced Australia's top-ranked woman Ajla Tomljanovic to withdraw from her crucial first match of the United Cup in another blow to the tournament hosts' chances.
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Tomljanovic was scheduled to face Britain's Harriet Dart at Sydney's Ken Rosewall Arena on Friday night in a must-win game for Australia after their disappointing 2-0 start to the new mixed-gender team tournament.
But on the afternoon of the match, Tennis Australia confirmed she had injured her left knee and would be replaced by Maddison Inglis in the team's second late reshuffle in three days.
Tomljanovic is coming off a career-best year, having reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon and the US Open, and TA remains hopeful she will be fit for her second match of the tournament against Spain's Paula Badosa on Tuesday afternoon.
Tomljanovic's injury is the latest in a series of hurdles for the Australian team.
Top-ranked men's player Nick Kyrgios pulled out of the tournament on Wednesday with an ankle injury, pushing Alex de Minaur into the top-seeded match-ups and opening up an opportunity for Jason Kubler as No.2 singles player.
Kyrgios continued to train at Olympic Park on Friday despite his injury.
Australia endured a difficult opening night of the tournament, with neither de Minaur nor women's second seed Zoe Hives able to take a set away from their British opponents.
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