Emma Raducanu succumbed to a damaging 5-7, 7-5, 7-5 defeat to world No. 101 Cristina Bucșa in the first round of the Singapore Open on Monday.
The Brit was again plagued by issues with her service game as she made seven double faults and won just 25% of the points on her second serve in a marathon contest that lasted more than three hours.
The match was Raducanu’s first since the announcement of her split with Nick Cavaday on Friday that left her searching for the seventh coach of her career.
The defeat, which follows the thrashing she received at the hands of Iga Swiatek in Melbourne on Jan. 17, scuppered Raducanu’s hopes of earning some decent ranking points at the WTA event. If she had reached the quarterfinal stage at the Kallang Tennis Centre, Raducanu would likely have broken back into the top 50.
Raducanu was seeded seventh in Singapore and it was felt that the draw that paired her with Bucșa was a fortuitious one for the 2021 US Open finalist.
The 22-year-old survived an early scare from Bucșa after the Moldovan-born Spaniard earned two break points in the opening set before Raducanu battled back to hold.
Doubles specialist Bucșa also struggled with her serve during the contest as the second set began with three breaks. But Bucșa managed to get keep her nose in front to win a seventh game and level the scores.
Raducanu let out a roar after breaking her opponent once again to take a 2-0 lead in the deciding set before she inexplicably surrendered her advantage as Bucșa rallied to win the draining contest after three hours and three minutes.
“I don’t play [three-hour matches] enough. But it was really good. Emma played so well from the first ball until the end. I’m so glad I kept going and kept believing in myself,” Bucșa told Sky Sports.
“It doesn’t matter if I have a day off, I have good endurance and I’m really happy to have my dad [who did a triathalon] with me. Thank you for the support.”