Emma Raducanu Records Third Consecutive Loss With First-Round Exit In Abu Dhabi
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Emma Raducanu lost her third consecutive match. The British player lost in the first round of the 2025 Abu Dhabi.
Raducanu finally managed to stay healthy and start her new season with a few tournaments. That was an ideal scenario for the 2021 US Open champion, who started her year at the Australian Open after previously withdrawing from the ASB Classic in Auckland.
She did well in Melbourne, beating strong opponents Ekaterina Alexandrova and Amanda Anisimova in the first two rounds. Then, however, Iga Swiatek destroyed her 6-1, 6-0.
After that, Raducanu signed up to compete at the Singapore Open, where she was the seventh seed. However, she lost in the first round of the WTA 250 tournament to Cristina Bucsa.
It seemed that the 22-year-old wouldn't appear on the courts for some time, but then she received a wild card for the Abu Dhabi. Not only that, she got a bit lucky, as her initial qualifying wild card was upgraded to a main draw wild card after a series of withdrawals.
In the first round of the 2025 Abu Dhabi Open, Raducanu took on fellow former Grand Slam champion Marketa Vondrousova. For the Czech player, this was only her third match of the season, as she was forced to miss the Australian Open.
That meant Raducanu's chances of success were higher, as her opponent was without any match practice. The Brit, on the other hand, played the last week, and she made the third round at the Australian Open as well, which meant she had plenty of matches under her belt.
That advantage showed on the tennis court as well. Raducanu was the first player to break, and after four games of play, the British player enjoyed a 3-1 lead. Her one-break advantage didn't last long, though.
The following game was the longest game of the set. Vondrousova built a 40-0 lead, but the Brit got it to deuce. Every time the scoreboard showed 40-40. However, it was the Czech player who managed to win the next rally.
Every time, Vondrousova gave herself a chance to break, but she needed six of those to eventually break. Still, breaking Raducanu's serve was what mattered to the Czech player, and she succeeded in doing that.
On top of that, that game proved to be crucial, probably for different reasons as well. Since winning that game, Vondrousova dominated the first set. She won five consecutive games and won the first set 6-3.
At the start of the second set, the Czech player once again had to face plenty of break points. Raducanu had a total of four chances to break, but she couldn't use them, and that proved to be costly.
The World No. 56 then felt the pressure down 3-4, and she lost her 30-0 lead as Vondrousova won four points in a row to break. Although Raducanu broke her opponent's serve in the following game, it wasn't enough to make the match more dramatic.
Vondrousova broke once more, and after an hour and 36 minutes of play, she won the match 6-3, 6-4. The Czech player will now prepare for her second-round match against the fourth-seeded Yulia Putintseva. Raducanu, on the other hand, will continue working on the practice court.
