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 battled to take the first set but fell to defeat 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.
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.
