(Reuters) – Emma Raducanu refused to be too downcast after suffering an opening round exit at the Singapore Open when the British seventh seed lost 5-7 7-5 7-5 to the 101st-ranked Cristina Bucsa.
Raducanu progressed to the third round of the recently concluded Australian Open for the first time in her career before losing to five-times Grand Slam champion and Polish second-seed Iga Swiatek in straight sets.
Having dealt with a string of injuries since capturing the 2021 U.S. Open, her only major, Raducanu went down in Singapore after a three-hour and three-minute battle against her Spanish opponent on Monday.
But the 22-year-old was happy with the way she handled herself following the end of her partnership with coach Nick Cavaday, who stepped back from the role last week to prioritise getting back to full health.
“I have the positives (from) this week, coming here on my own with Yutaka and my mom, but I’m really proud of how I dealt and handled myself this week,” Raducanu told ESPN after the match, referring to her fitness coach Yutaka Nakamura.
“I feel OK. 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.”
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru; Editing by Neil Fullick)
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