Raducanu finds no answers to Kasatkina's questions as she loses in Ostrava
WTA
After reaching her first semi-final of the season, Emma Raducanu lost already in the first round of the 2022 Ostrava Open.
Before flying to the Czech Republic, the 2021 US Open champion attended the Paris Fashion Week and also announced that she would compete at a prestigious exhibition event - the 2022 Mubadala Championship - against Ons Jabeur.
However, when she got back on the court after recovering from a minor injury, Raducanu couldn't find her A-game to surprise WTA World No. 11 Daria Kasatkina.
At the 2022 Ostrava Open, former World No. 10 faced a very difficult draw as she faced the fifth-seeded Russian already in the first round, making it difficult to follow up on her semi-final appearance from Seoul.
From the first ball played it was obvious that Kasatkina came to dictate the play as she got an early break and 2-0 lead in the first set. However, Raducanu showed her fighting spirit and broke back.
Not only that, the British player got into the lead in the first set of the match, as she was 4-3 up. But after a series of bad service games, she eventually lost the first set 5-7 and faced a difficult task.
This task was to come back from one set down against a very consistent Kasatkina, but that proved impossible for the Brit. Her opponent was the only player who had break points in the second set.
Raducanu wasn't good enough on return, and despite hitting 92% of her first serves in, she was broken. Kasatkina eventually won the match 7-5, 6-4 in an hour and 32 minutes, eliminating the 2021 US Open winner.
In the second round, Kasatkina will play against another Russian in the draw, Ekaterina Alexandrova, who defeated two-time Grand Slam champion Victoria Azarenka in the first round.
