Emma Raducanu struggles on Stuttgart clay in first-round thrashing
The Briton won just three games against Jelena Ostapenko as she lost inside an hour
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Emma Raducanu bowed out in the first round at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart as Jelena Ostapenko breezed past her in less than an hour.
The British No 1, who has been battling a wrist injury, was comprehensively outplayed by the 2017 French Open winner as she romped to a 6-2 6-1 victory in 59 minutes on the clay to set up a second-round showdown with third seed Ons Jabeur.
Both players held serve comfortably at the first time of asking, but as Ostapenko started to find rhythm, her power and depth off the forehand set up a break point in the third game which she converted with a fine backhand return.
The Latvian established a 4-1 lead with a second successive break courtesy of another forehand winner as Raducanu struggled to deal with the weight of her opponent’s hitting, and she was caught out by her touch too as a deft drop shot helped to secure the next game.
Having stopped the rot to make it 5-2, the 2021 US Open winner was swatted aside as Ostapenko served out for the set, winning 6-2 in just 29 minutes.
Raducanu’s response was to win the first six points of the second set, holding service impressively to love before establishing a 30-0 lead in the second game, but the door was slammed firmly shut as the world number 22 rattled off 16 successive points to go 4-1 up.
The world No 68 fashioned her first break point of the match in the next game, but was unable to take it and found herself serving to stay in it, ultimately in vain as Ostapenko crashed a forehand service return past her to set up a match point she took with the minimum of fuss.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments