Emma Raducanu suffered a tough defeat in the opening round of the Singapore Open, losing 5-7, 7-5, 7-5 to world number 101 Cristina Bucsa of Spain. The match, lasting three hours and three minutes, featured 17 service breaks. Raducanu, who played for the first time since her loss to Iga Swiatek at the Australian Open and after learning that her coach, Nick Cavaday would step back to focus on his health, faced a challenging encounter.
Raducanu, ranked 56th, initially took control of the match after recovering from a 5-4 deficit in the first set. She won three consecutive games to take the lead and secure the set. However, the second set saw a series of breaks. Bucsa took a 4-2 lead but Raducanu fought back to lead 5-4. Despite this, Bucsa won the next three games to level the match at one set apiece. The decider was a tense affair with both players struggling to hold serve.
Emma Raducanu managed to edge ahead 5-4 but Bucsa broke back and eventually served for the match. Raducanu saved a couple of match points but Bucsa capitalized on another opportunity and clinched victory with Raducanu netting on the final point. Bucsa will now face either Sijia Wei of China or Mananchaya Sawangkaew of Thailand in the last 16.
Meanwhile, British number five Jodie Burrage lost in the second round of qualifying at the Linz Open in Austria, falling 6-4, 7-6 (7-1) to Croatia’s Antonia Ruzic. Burrage had earlier defeated Serbia’s Lola Radivojevic in the first round.
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