Emma Raducanu crashes out of the 2022 Madrid Open after being troubled by injury again

Emma Raducanu lost in the third round of the 2022 Madrid Open when she couldn't overcome Anhelina Kalinina.

Lately, the British player has been performing very well. She even assessed that she was playing her best tennis since last September. However, starting her third-round match in the Spanish capital, the young Brit started the match with a negative streak when she lost the first eight out of nine rallies.

Eventually, she lost the first set 2-6 in just 35 minutes of play, as Kalinina proved to be too strong to overcome early on for the ninth seed, who outplayed Tereza Martincova and Marta Kostyuk in her first two matches at the WTA 1000 tournament.

After the opening set, which she lost, Raducanu called for a medical timeout and also left the court. She returned in much better shape for the second set, which she dominated.

The 2021 US Open winner broke her opponent immediately in the second game, after winning eight of the first ten rallies of the match, and despite losing the one-break advantage in the following game, she was able to break twice more to win the second set 6-2 and force the third set.

Read also

"Maybe she doesn't need a full time coach" - Schett backs Raducanu for good Roland Garros

However, after recovering a lost break and being up 4-3 in the third set, she lost three games in a row to lose the match 2-6, 6-2, 4-6, and exit the 2022 Madrid Open already in the third round.

It remains unknown how much the injury influenced the match and whether Raducanu will need to take some time away from tennis, as the Italian Open in Rome and Roland Garros follow in quick succession.

On the other hand, Kalinina will enjoy a quarter-final match at the WTA 1000 tournament, taking on Jil Teichmann, who eliminated the 16th-seeded Elena Rybakina in her third-round match.

Read also

Emma Raducanu could open Wimbledon as replacement for Barty