Emma Raducanu lost in the first round of the Madrid Open against María Lourdes Carlé of Argentina in straight sets. Raducanu, 21, had been in fantastic form going into the clay-court tournament, with four victories propelling Britain to the Billie Jean King Cup finals, but she was unable to reproduce that success in the Madrid sunshine. Carlé advanced to the second round against 17th seed Veronika Kudermetova, defeating her 6-2, 6-2.
Raducanu’s match began poorly, as he was broken in the first game and served two double faults. She dropped the first seven points of the match and was broken twice more in the first set. Also read: Quiet Aryna Sabalenka Cleans Ahead of Good Friend Paula Badosa in Miami Second Round
The 2021 US Open champion’s serve continued to challenge her in the second set. As Carlé broke her at the first, second, and third attempts. Raducanu also struggled with mistakes throughout, more than quadrupling her opponent’s unforced errors in the loss.
Raducanu was widely regarded as the contest’s frontrunner, despite her low global ranking of 221, compared to Carlé’s 82. The Madrid Open is notable in terms of rankings points because it is one of ten WTA 1000 events on the calendar. Also read: Tomas Machac Becomes The Third Czech To Defeat Andrey Rublev In The Last 30 Days with A Win In Miami