Azure AI Search Free tier shows ServiceQuotaExceeded although quota shows 0 of 1 used

I am trying to create an Azure AI Search service using the Free (F) pricing tier.

The deployment fails with:

ServiceQuotaExceeded: Operation would exceed 'free' tier service quota. You are using 1 out of 1 'free' tier service quota.

However, in Azure Quotas for Search, the Free (F) tier shows 0 of 1 used.

I currently have one Azure AI Search service using the Basic pricing tier. There is no active Free-tier Search service visible in the subscription.

I also tried creating the Free-tier service in another supported region and received the same ServiceQuotaExceeded error.

Azure's automated troubleshooting found that a Search service had previously been created, deleted, and recreated within a short period, and suggested that the deleted Free-tier service slot might still be stale or not fully released in the backend.

The subscription is an Azure Free Trial, so the Azure portal does not allow me to submit a quota increase request without upgrading to Pay-As-You-Go.

Could someone advise how the stale Free-tier Azure AI Search service slot can be released/reset so that I can create the one Free-tier service allowed for the subscription?