SINGAPORE — As the 2021 US Open champion, and one of the headline acts for this week’s new WTA 250 event, Emma Raducanu was expected to be thereabouts come the business end of the inaugural Singapore Tennis Open.
Instead, she was the most notable casualty on the opening day of play at Kallang Tennis Hub as she suffered a first-round exit at the hands of 101st-ranked Cristina Bucșa — succumbing 7-5, 5-7, 5-7 in a marathon battle that just exceeded the three-hour mark.
Looking to get on the front foot right from the outset, Raducanu’s aggressive risk-versus-reward gamble looked to be reaping dividends early on.
Her sheer power bailed her out of a number of precarious situations as she came from 4-5 down to take the first set.
As the match wore on, however, the fine margins proved telling. The powerful winners became the unforced errors that sailed just long.
One such groundstroke into the net — at 5-5 in the second — handed Bucșa a crucial break to close out the set.
Then, in a third set where neither player seemed capable of finding their service game, with seven breaks of serve from 12 games, it was Bucșa who ultimately kept her composure to claim the win.
The disappointment at such an early exit was evident at the promptness in which Raducanu made her exit back into the changing rooms.
She had expressed her excitement at finally being able to play a tournament in Singapore — a country she says she feels “at home” in — as top-level women’s tennis returned to the Southeast Asian nation for the first time since the WTA Finals were held here from 2014 to 2018.
Yet, the most disappointing aspect could just be the fact that she actually felt she played better than she did just over a week ago with a creditable run to the third round of the Australian Open before eventually losing to five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Świątek.
“I think I’m in a pretty good place with everything and I think I actually played better than I did in Melbourne, so that is ironic,” she said after the match, unable to hide a sardonic chuckle to herself.
“I think it was really small margins in it. I honestly thought I played pretty well today.
“She [Bucșa] just played unbelievable and, credit to her, she kept it up the whole match.”
Having been hampered by her fair share of struggles with fitness and then form since her historic US Open triumph, Raducanu’s start to the year was also affected by her split from coach Nick Cavaday, who stepped away from mentoring her due to health issues.
Considering the parting of ways was only announced late last week, it meant that Raducanu had to find an extra level of independence preparing for Singapore.
More importantly, she believes a gruelling encounter such as Monday’s defeat will only stand her in good stead.
“I have the positives [from] this week, coming here on my own with [fitness coach] Yutaka [Nakamura] and my mom, but I’m really proud of how I dealt and handled myself this week,” she explained.
“I feel okay. I feel like I have certain things we all manage as the year goes on. I think it’s pretty early in the season.
“For me to be playing this kind of match, all I need is time on court and a match-competitive situation, which I got today. I got it in abundance — over three hours of it — so, for me, it’s really valuable because every match I play, I feel like it’s a win.
“And I fought really hard. I gave everything. So I just got to keep building and moving on.”
Understandably, there is plenty of uncertainty surrounding Raducanu’s immediate future, even down to the fact that she was initially planning to spend the entire week — including the Lunar New Year festivities — in Singapore, which is up in the air now.
“To be honest, I don’t know what’s next for me,” added the 22-year-old. “I feel like a lot of things kind of changed in the last week.
“So I think I just need to regroup and get some advice what [events] I should play next but I’m ready to go pretty much straight away. I’m ready to keep building.
“I just have to take that positive [from Monday’s display] and, when I look at it practically, realistically and unemotionally, I think ‘okay, my level is improving’.
“I’m not actually sure what I’m going to do from here. It kind of depends what I play.
“I love Singapore though, as a place. It’s a shame I can’t stay here longer. It is what it is.
“I haven’t had much time to explore [the city] yet this year because of the tournament. And I’ve been so busy training. But, whether I will or won’t this year, Singapore will always have a special place and the fans here are unbelievable.
“I felt so much support, I felt so much love. I just feel bad I couldn’t pull through for them.”
