Raducanu retires in Rome with back issue
EMMA RADUCANU’S French Open preparations suffered a setback as she was forced to retire from her first-round match at the Internazionali BNL D’Italia.
A niggling back issue, which hampered her at the Madrid Open last week, once again put paid to her chances as she struggled through 11 games against Bianca Andreescu.
The British No.1 was 6-2, 2-1, down when she left the court in Rome, telling a physio: “I can’t move.”
A one-sided first set saw Raducanu have no answer to Andreescu’s power while struggling to make her own serve count.
Raducanu spent some time off the court for treatment and she was clearly uncomfortable when play got back under way.
Andreescu, like Raducanu born in Canada with Romanian heritage and a US Open winner, is herself building back up to full fitness after a knee injury,
“It’s definitely been difficult for me but I’m slowly getting back to my top form, which I’m pleased about,” Andreescu told Amazon Prime.
“I hope Emma’s injury – or whatever she is dealing with – isn’t so bad. She is an amazing player. She’s dealing with something and I hope she is okay.”
Now Raducanu, currently without a full-time coach following her split from Torben Beltz, will be hoping to return to full fitness by the time the French Open gets under way at Roland Garros in under a fortnight’s time.
In the men’s draw, Novak Djokovic stormed into the third round as he aims to retain his place at the top of the men’s rankings.
A 6-3, 6-2, victory over Aslan Karatsev saw Djokovic advance, knowing he needs to reach the semi-finals to remain world No.1 having missed several tournaments due to his coronavirus vaccination status, and he was pleased with his performance.
“When you see him, physically, [he is] a very strong guy,” Djokovic said. “You never know with him. If he’s feeling the ball, he can be very dangerous because he stays so close to the line, puts pressure on his opponents.
“He was missing a lot of balls today though. He gave me a couple of breaks there in the first and second sets, but I’ll take this win for sure. It’s a straight-sets win against a quality opponent and I’m looking forward to the next challenge.”
There was also a win for British ninth seed Cameron Norrie, who beat wildcard Luca Nardi 6-4, 6-4, to set-up a third-round clash with Marin Cilic.
“I need to clean up a lot of errors,” Norrie told Amazon Prime. “But I was pleased how I turned it around after that start though. “I came out very, very nervous and very tight for whatever reason. I was just missing a lot of second-serve returns and not playing as aggressive as I would like.”