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Emma Raducanu suffers painful first-round loss in first match since coaching split
The Brit was beaten by the world No.101.
Emma Raducanu suffered a first-round loss at the Singapore Open on Monday in her first match since splitting with coach Nick Cavaday.
Cristina Bucsa, ranked world No.101, conjured up a 5-7 7-5 7-5 over the British tennis star in Raducanu’s first match since her Australian Open exit.
Raducanu, ranked world No.56, enjoyed an impressive run to the third round at this year’s Grand Slam tournament at Melbourne Park.
She dumped out 26th-seed Ekaterina Alexandrova and followed it up with another victory over a higher-ranked opponent, Amanda Anisimova.
A third-round clash with second-seed Iga Swiatek proved to be a step too far for Raducanu, though, and after her elimination, it was announced that she was splitting with her coach Cavaday.
Cavaday stepped back from the role last week to ‘prioritise getting back to full health’, leaving Raducanu without a coach.
She turned up at the Singapore Open alongside fitness specialist Yutaka Nakamura and was the favourite for her opener with Bucsa, but it was the Moldovan-Spanish star who came out on top in a three-hour battle.
The result is a significant blow for Raducanu given a run to the quarter-finals would’ve likely moved her back inside the word top 50.
Raducanu clocked up more than double the amount of double faults than her opponent Bucsa and her serving was patchy throughout.
The Briton will be left kicking herself given she was a set ahead and then 5-4 up in sets two and three, but lost the last three games in the latter two.
Bucsa will next face either Sijia Wei of China or Mananchaya Sawangkaew of Thailand in the last 16 after her stunning win over Raducanu.
British star Raducanu, who won the 2021 US Open as a qualifier and was ranked inside the world top 10 a year later, is hoping to get back to her top level this year after several injury-plagued seasons on the WTA Tour.
Raducanu is still waiting to land a second title on the WTA Tour, having not cliched a trophy anywhere since her fairytale in New York four years ago.
