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Emma Raducanu was beaten in the first round at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix Stuttgart by Jelena Ostapenko in less than an hour.
The British No. 1, who has been battling a wrist injury, played a complete game against the 2017 French Open winner in 59 minutes to set up a second-round tie with a 6-2 6-1 victory on clay. Seed Ons Jabeur.
Both players serve comfortably when asked, but as Ostapenko began to find a shot, her forehand power and depth set up a break point in the third game, which she converted with a good backhand return.
As Radukan struggled to cope with the weight of her opponent’s hitting, the Latvian won 4-1 in the second straight break in the other, and she was caught in touch with a stupid drop shot to secure the next. Game.
After stopping the rot at 5-2, 2021 US Open winner Ostapenko swept the match 6-2 in 29 minutes.
Radukanu responded by winning the first six points of the second set before taking a 30-0 lead in the second game to hold his serve impressively, but the door was firmly shut as the world number 22 rattled off 16 straight points. 4-1 up.
In the next game, the Briton fashioned her first break point of the match but was unable to take it and found herself serving to stay within herself, eventually taking it in vain as Ostapenko had a forehand return close to set up match point.
The magnitude of this defeat highlighted Raducanu’s experience on clay courts, but also highlighted the gap in class before she can compete again at the top of her game.
A curious technique in which she stood wide on her first serve was horribly exposed by Ostapenko, who refused to change her approach in response to her first error.
The final result should leave Raducanu shaken and the first impact will be on her levels.
This latest defeat will see Raducanu fall in the next edition of the WTA rankings when they are released next Monday.
She is currently ranked 68th in the WTA rankings but has dropped to 83rd in the provisional rankings.
Raduanu’s hopes of breaking out of the world’s top 100 are now very real and this raises questions about the lucrative sponsorship deals she signed after winning the US Open.
She is currently playing a new promotion for British Airways and played in the Porsche Cup in Stuttgart as a wild card invitation from the sponsors, one of Raducanu’s sponsors.
It’s hard to imagine that these big names, who threw their weight around after her US Open victory, would want to renew expensive sponsorship deals with a player outside the top 100 in the WTA rankings and now competing in the game’s biggest events.
She can continue to rely on wild cards to get into major tournaments and as a Grand Slam champion, she will continue to earn invitations to top tournaments.
On the evidence of this latest dribbling, Raducanu may be forced to step down to opponents closer to her level on the ITF World Tennis Tour as she looks to find her feet in the professional ranks.
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