Emma Raducanu, 22-year-old British player and a promising young star for Great Britain women's tennis, is still struggling to find her feet this year, and has now suffered a second consecutive defeat in the first round of a tournament, raising more concerns about her consistency and performance.
It has been in the Abu Dhabi Open, losing against Czech Marketa Vondrousova (world nº 37, 2024 Wimbledon winner), 6-3, 6-4 in a little over an hour and a half. This happens just a week after losing in Singapore to Spaniard Cristina Bucsa, a rival with a much lower category in the WTA rankings. Earlier, at the Australian Open, she was eliminated 6-1, 6-0 by Iga Swiatek, who went to reach the semi-finals.
Raducanu won the US Open in 2021 and reached her highest rank ever, 10, in 2022, but has now since fallen to rank 56. It seems like that stunning US Open victory is too far away: with the exception of that Grand Slam, she hasn't been able to reach beyond Round 4 on any of the Grand Slams after. She entered the Abu Dhabi as wild card, but has exited it after one match.