British tennis player Emma Raducanu lost the first round of the Singapore Open to Cristina Bucsa, the WTA No. 101. This was Raducanu’s first match since suffering a heavy defeat to Iga Swiatek in the third round of the Australian Open.
The three-hour match in Singapore saw seventeen serve breaks, with Bucsa winning the match 7–5, 5–7, and 5–7. Raducanu won the first set, putting herself in a strong position for the next set, and she was up 5–4 in sets two and three. However, she struggled to win points with her second serve, which proved costly in this close match, as Bucsa won sets two and three, despite being behind on Raducanu.
Bucsa capitalised on Raducanu’s mistakes and struggled to read the match by hitting long balls into areas of the court that Raducanu left exposed. Raducanu struggled at times to read the match, particularly the kinds of shots coming at her, judging a short shot as a long shot. It was a match of close margins and both players struggled to hold serve, but Bucsa was resilient and broke a weary Raducanu in the deciding set to take the win.
The Singapore Open was Raducanu’s first tournament after her childhood coach Nick Cavaday stepped down from the role due to health reasons. Raducanu’s mother accompanied her in Singapore alongside fitness coach Yutaka Nakamura, who has previously worked with tennis legend Maria Sharapova. Raducanu expressed her excitement to work with Nakamura: “My natural athleticism is something that I have to use. I have to hone it, I have to polish it, it’s still pretty raw and I don’t think anywhere near fully developed so he’s going to help me explore that.”
The 22-year-old shared a post of her time in Singapore on Instagram, captioning it: “Keeping on keeping on.” Conveying a message of motivation despite the challenging circumstances of her former coach Nick Cavaday stepping down, and her struggles to go far in tournaments like her early knockouts in the Australian and Singapore Open.
Raducanu has not won a major tournament since her 2021 US Open victory at only 18 years old. However, she is seemingly optimistic about her future in tennis, as her early existence in Singapore has allowed her to accept a wildcard into the qualifying draw at the Abu Dhabi Open.