The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Raducanu thumped in first match since coronavirus recovery
Emma Raducanu narrowly avoided a humbling “double-bagel” defeat yesterday as she crashed out of the Sydney International to world number 13 Elena Rybakina.
The 19-year-old US Open champion was thumped 6-0 6-1 in 55 minutes in her first match since recovering from a bout of coronavirus.
Raducanu’s defeat came on the same day she secured a ranking of 17 for next week’s Australian Open – and she will now be painfully aware of the size of her task ahead.
The British player was overpowered by her opponent, fresh off a run to the final of the Adelaide International last week, and lost the first nine games of the match.
Raducanu flashed a smile after avoiding the indignity of a shut-out in the 10th game but she continued to be let down by a second serve percentage that barely scraped over 10%.
Raducanu saved the first two match points against her with arguably her two best shots of the match, before succumbing to the inevitable as Rybakina eased into the last 16.
● World number two Aryna Sabalenka encountered more problems with her serve as she suffered a surprise loss to a qualifier at the Adelaide International 2 tournament yesterday.
In a potential blow to her confidence ahead of the Australian Open, the Belarusian served 21 double faults as she went down 5-7 6-1 7-5 to world number 93 Rebecca Peterson in the first round. Such were her problems, the top seed even served underarm at times in the second and third set.
It comes a week after she had 18 double faults in her loss to Kaja Juvan at the Adelaide International 1 event.
Third seed Coco Gauff was in good form as she ousted Katerina Siniakova 6-1 6-2 while fourth seed Tamara Zidansek beat Britain’s Heather Watson 2-6 6-2 7-6 (4). Seventh seed Jil Teichmann lost 1-6 7-6 (3) 6-4 to Lauren Davis of the United States while ninth seed Sorana Cirstea went out 6-3 6-2 to Anhelina Kalinina. Eighth seed Liudmila Samsonova saw off Mayar Sherif 7-6 (2) 6-4.
Olympic champion Belinda Bencic got off to a winning start at the Sydney Tennis Classic with a comfortable victory over qualifier Beatriz Haddad Maia.
The Swiss, unseeded in her first tournament of the year, needed just 69 minutes to see off the Brazilian 6-3 6-2 and reach the second round. Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic gave the home crowd something to cheer following the withdrawal of world number one Ashleigh Barty. Tomljanovic set up a clash with fifth seed Paula Badosa as she overcame Slovakian qualifier Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-2 6-3.