Emma Raducanu suffered her third consecutive defeat as she crashed out in the first round of the Abu Dhabi Open.
It was a meeting of the Grand Slam champions as the British No. 1 faced 2023 Wimbledon winner Marketa Vondrousova, who is continuing her comeback from injuries.
After taking an early lead, the match fell away from Raducanu, and Vondrousova earned an easy 6-3 6-4 victory.
Raducanu was facing Vondrousova for the third time, having split their previous meetings. It was the world No. 37’s first match since she retired from January’s Adelaide International in tears.
Before that, Vondrousova had not competed since Wimbledon, shutting down the rest of her 2024 season due to injuries. Ahead of the tournament, the Czech star said she was finally feeling healthy.
Raducanu pounced first, taking an early break lead at 3-1. But Vondrousova immediately got back on serve, making Raducanu work before taking her sixth break point.
The former Wimbledon champion continued her assault on Raducanu’s serve, reeling off five games in a row to take the first set 6-3 after trailing by a break.
It was Vondrousova’s turn to save break points as Raducanu blew four chances early in the second set. The Czech star only earned her first break point of the set in the eighth game, but that was all she needed.
Vondrousova pounced and broke to serve for the match. But, with time running out, Raducanu suddenly found something and earned a break to keep herself alive.
The world No. 37 proved too strong, however, breaking one final time to seal a straightforward victory and set up a meeting with No. 4 seed Yulia Putintseva.
“I mean, it was a tough match. She played some great rallies and it was a battle until the end so I’m very happy and can’t wait for my next match,” Vondrousova said.
“It’s always great to be back. I’m very grateful to be back playing healthy and I tried to enjoy as much as I can.”
Raducanu fired down 32 unforced errors during the contest – including two double faults – and failed to hit a single ace. The British No. 2 has been open about her serving struggles after tweaking the shot last season.
She has now lost three matches on the bounce, including a heartbreaking three-hour, three-set match to Cristina Bucsa in Singapore last week.
Prior to that, the 22-year-old was beaten by Iga Swiatek in the third round of the Australian Open.
Raducanu is currently without a full-time coach after parting ways with Nick Cavaday, who could no longer commit to travelling on the tour every week due to a chronic health issue.
The former world No. 10 enlisted Roman Kelecic as a temporary mentor while in Abu Dhabi. Kelecic was one of her junior coaches while Raducanu competed on the ITF circuit and he is based out of Dubai.
Content Source: www.express.co.uk