Emma Raducanu suffers injury scare ahead of French Open

The 22-year-old left the court during her second-round defeat to American Danielle Collins for treatment on a back problem

Emma Raducanu has sparked injury fears ahead of the French Open (PA)

Emma Raducanu suffered an injury scare ahead of the French Open as she went out of the Strasbourg Open.

The 22-year-old left the court during the second set of her second-round clash with American Danielle Collins for treatment on a back problem, though appeared to recover.

Having won the first set, Raducanu was 5-0 down when she called a medical timeout before returning to the court 10 minutes later.

Although she was able to finish the match, she went down to a 4-6 6-1 6-3 defeat to Collins.

With the French Open starting on Sunday, Raducanu will now have the problem fully assessed before travelling to Paris, though the way she competed hard in a tight third set could suggest it was not too serious.

She took a wild card to enter the final warm-up tournament for Roland Garros in eastern France – not something she has usually done in the build-up to a grand slam.

The British No 2, who is chasing Katie Boulter as the highest-ranked Briton, started off well by winning the first set against the world No 46.

But her level immediately dropped and after walking through the fifth game, where she went 5-0 down, she left the court for lengthy treatment.

Collins quickly wrapped up the second set and there was a fear she could also run away with the decider.

But to her credit, Raducanu fought hard and was primed to take a 3-1 lead but could not convert four break points.

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It was tightly poised at 3-3 after an exchange of breaks, but Collins put her foot down to win the final three games as Raducanu fell away.

PA