Emma’s run is halted by unknown quantity
EMMA RADUCANU suffered a painful defeat at the Madrid Masters last night when she lost a roller-coaster last-16 encounter with the world No.37.
Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina played superbly to win the first set before the US Open champion took a medical time-out for a sore back.
The British No.1 refound her recent strong form to level the match and saved two points to fall 1-4 down in the decider. But with the scores at 4-4, Raducanu played a poor service game and Kalinina held her nerve to win 6-2 2-6 6-4 in two hours and 19 minutes.
The No.9 seed had reckoned she had been in the best form since winning in New York last year and was seeking three wins in the same event for the first time since her Major triumph.
But she had admitted she had “no idea” about Kalinina before the match and prepared without the help of a full-time coach. By contrast, Kalinina is coached by her husband Anton Korchevskyi and has now beaten consecutive Grand Slam event champions after thrashing Garbine Muguruza in the last 32.
The emotional Ukrainian fought back tears after her win as she addressed the Spanish crowd.
She said: “I want to give credit to Emma, because we both played at very high quality and that is why the tennis was great.
“I just want to say thank you very much to all the people who came because I feel their power.
Even in the moments when I didn’t have energy, I was feeling you.”
Wild card Jack Draper gave Andrey Rublev a scare before losing 2-6 6-4 7-5 to the world No.8.
The big-serving British lefthander overpowered the Russian in the opening set and led 3-0 in the decider. He said: “I surprised myself a little bit that I can play a very high level on the clay.”
World No.1 Novak Djokovic began his quest for a fourth Madrid Open title with a 6-3 6-2 victory over Gael Monfils.