Emma Raducanu had a bittersweet season debut at the United Cup, representing Great Britain. She suffered her first defeat against Maria Sakkari.
The 23-year-old tennis player withdrew at the last minute from Great Britain’s first match in the mixed team event in Perth against Japan on Sunday due to a foot problem that bothered her during the preseason.
In her first match since October, after battling an illness at the end of last season, Raducanu lacked the sharpness and stamina needed to string together five consecutive wins against Sakkari, falling 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, which condemned Great Britain to defeat against Greece.
Raducanu had the support on the court of her coach Francisco Roig and the captain of Great Britain, Tim Henman, who said:
“I said before the last match that I was very, very close.
Tim Henman“She had another good practice session and wanted to go out and test herself. She has been brilliant as part of the team, she loves representing her country, so it’s fantastic to have her on court tonight.”Emma Raducanu perdió contra Maria Sakkari el lunes.Raducanu started perfectly, breaking Sakkari’s serve in the first game, but soon found herself under pressure, with the Greek winning six of the last seven games of the first set.
This was the first set that Sakkari managed to win against the former US Open champion, as their first encounter occurred during Raducanu’s famous run in New York.
Raducanu was able to break Sakkari and force her to make a large number of errors, but this time it was a different story.
Raducanu can take heart from the way she fought to recover from a break to win the second set, but, as she did in several matches at the end of last season, the world number 29 faded quickly in the decider.
Previously, Billy Harris was on the verge of securing one of the most significant victories of his career when he lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas in a decisive tiebreak.
Harris, ranked almost 100 places below the Greek at number 127, won the first set and pushed Tsitsipas to the end in a 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (4) defeat.
Tsitsipas praised his British opponent, who replaced the injured Jack Draper, saying:
“I would like to congratulate Billy, he gave an incredible performance.
Stefanos Tsitsipas
I haven’t played a match of such high quality in a long time. He did absolutely great, pushing me to my limits and I think matches like that, regardless of who wins and loses, are great for the sport”.
Stefanos Tsitsipas
In other news, Coco Gauff’s service issues resurfaced when she committed 14 double faults in a 6-1, 6-7 (3), 6-0 loss to Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, although she returned to the court alongside Christian Harrison for a doubles victory that secured the United States’ place in the quarterfinals.
Iga Swiatek had to fight back from a set down to defeat Eva Lys of Germany 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, which secured Poland’s victory after Hubert Hurkacz marked his return after seven months of absence due to a knee injury by defeating Alexander Zverev 6-3, 6-4.
