Emma Raducanu eliminated from Singapore Tennis Open first round; Anna Kalinskaya advances

SINGAPORE – In her first outing since splitting with her coach Nick Cavaday, former US Open winner Emma Raducanu crashed out in the first round of the Singapore Tennis Open after a 5-7, 7-5, 7-5 defeat by 101st-ranked Cristina Bucsa of Spain at the Kallang Tennis Hub on Jan 27.

Seventh seed Raducanu, who had climbed to world No. 56 after reaching the Australian Open’s round of 32, was hoping to build on her positive start to the year.

But Bucsa, a Paris Olympics doubles bronze medallist, earned a comeback victory in three hours and three minutes.

She will face the 132nd-ranked Mananchaya Sawangkaew in the round of 16 of the US$275,000 (S$370,000) WTA 250 event on Jan 29, following the Thai’s 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) win over fellow qualifier, China’s world No. 116 Wei Sijia.

Raducanu arrived in Singapore with her fitness coach Yutaka Nakamura and mum Renee Zhai following 2025’s first Major, when the 22-year-old Briton was beaten by world No. 2 Iga Swiatek on Jan 18.

Cavaday had ended their partnership after the tournament because of health issues, leaving Raducanu in search of her seventh full-time coach of her professional career.

After her defeat, Raducanu said: “I have to take lots of positives this week, coming here on my own, with Yutaka and my mum.

“But I’m really proud at how I dealt and handled myself this week.

“I feel like I have certain things that (I have to) manage as the year goes on and I think it’s pretty early in the season.

“But for me to be playing these kinds of matches, all I need is time on court, in a match-competitive situation, which I got in abundance over three hours of it today.

“For me it’s extremely valuable because every match I play, I feel like it’s a win. I fought really hard and gave everything, just got to keep building and moving on.”

Bucsa, 27, likened the match to a marathon, saying: “It was quite an amazing match. I’m really proud about today’s performance and I’m feeling confident, and hopefully I keep this tough battle till the end.

“I came back from an injury (suffered) in November and couldn’t play for almost two months and it was really tough to come back. But when I played against Leylah Fernandez (at the Australian Open), I knew that I had reached my level, so I felt more confident in today’s match.

“It felt like a marathon from the first point till the last point. I trained so hard during all these weeks, and that makes it a good result.”

Bucsa had served for the opening set at 5-4 up, but Raducanu reeled in the next three games to win the 55-minute first set, which featured five aces from the Briton.

After the Spaniard took a 4-2 lead in the second set, Raducanu strung together three games to go 5-4 up, but Bucsa fought back to win 7-5 and set up the decider.

There, a string of double faults from Raducanu allowed Bucsa to lead 4-3 and, as both struggled to hold serve, Bucsa broke the Briton to leave her serving for the match.

While Raducanu saved two match points, she could not do so a third time as Bucsa won 7-5.

Looking forward, Raducanu said: “To be honest, I don’t know what is next for me. I feel like a lot of things kind of changed in the last week, so I just need to regroup and get some advice on what I would play next.

“But I’m ready to go pretty much straightaway, to keep building and I think I’m at a pretty good place with everything.

“I think I played better than I did in Melbourne, that is ironic.

“But I have to just take that positively and when I look at it practically and unemotionally, my level is improving.”

In other matches on Jan 27, Russia’s top seed Anna Kalinskaya beat American Caroline Dolehide 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, while Colombia’s sixth seed Camila Osorio defeated another American Bernarda Pera 6-1, 6-7 (0-7), 6-3.

Kalinskaya said: “It was a great battle. It’s not the best to play a friend, especially in the first round, but I think we showed some good tennis. And I’m glad I could push in the third set, because I was up in the second set, but I couldn’t (convert) my chances.”

When asked about her rest day on Jan 28, she said: I’m just gonna focus on recovery and practise a little bit. And if I feel good enough to see a little bit of the city, and maybe we get lucky with the weather, I would like to see something. But let’s see how I feel tomorrow.”

Kalinskaya will take on Simona Waltert in the last 16 on Jan 29. The Swiss qualifier defeated former world No. 32 Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia 6-2, 6-3.

Round of 32 action continues on Jan 28, with Belgian second seed Elise Mertens facing American Taylor Townsend and China’s fourth seed Wang Xinyu taking on Canada’s Rebecca Marino.