Agony for Raducanu as she falls just short
The search for a string of wins at a tournament outside a Grand Slam goes on for emma Raducanu, who agonisingly missed out on the Madrid Open quarter-finals last night.
A third straight victory beckoned for the first time since her US Open glory last September, only for her to be edged out by Anhelina Kalinina, one of the Ukrainians competing on the tour with a fire inside. Raducanu cited more physical issues as she went down 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 after two hours and 18 minutes, during which there was little to separate the players.
having felt pain in her lower back earlier this week, she left the court for treatment after the first set, and was much improved thereafter. ‘I have been carrying niggles,’ said Raducanu, who curiously had no personal trainer or physio with her this week. ‘It’s taking its toll, all of the matches at this level. I think that’s a good thing.
‘I feel like I’m going through this and my body is building with each match. A lot of the time with me, it’s just overload. I was really struggling to move out wide, but credit to her, she gave me nothing.’
Kalinina has now beaten three Grand Slam champions in a row. She struck the ball superbly in the opening set and Raducanu had little response.
After the hiatus caused by her treatment, the Kent teenager closed off her opponent’s highly effective cross court backhand and served more consistently, extracting far more errors. Louis Cayer, the veteran coach being used as a technical consultant, was watching courtside and would have been pleased.
Kalinina left the court after the second set and she rediscovered her range to go 3-1 up. The pendulum swung both ways thereafter in the kind of match which shows why women’s tennis has so few players able to establish any superiority.
earlier, Britain’s Jack Draper showed he will be a threat at Wimbledon. The 20-year-old’s rapid improvement was emphasised when he came close to defeating world No 8 Andrey Rublev before being pipped 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 in the second round.
having started the season at No265, he is now on the cusp of the top 100, which ought to see him straight into the Championships without a wildcard. The power of his southpaw serve and forehand had the Russian rocked back on his heels for a lot of the match.
Draper did not quite have the know-how to close it out from 3-0 in the decider and played a slightly loose game at 5-5, but it is little wonder that he is being talked about as having top 10 potential. ‘I’m gutted I couldn’t sustain my level but I surprised myself a little that I can play a very high level on clay,’ he said.
‘I still feel like I’ve got so much more in me.’