Emma Raducanu knocked out of Qatar Open by Ekaterina Alexandrova in third successive first-round defeat | Tennis News

Emma Raducanu suffered her third first-round tournament defeat inside two weeks as she lost 6-3 7-5 to Ekaterina Alexandrova at the Qatar Open.

The 22-year-old Briton had been handed her second successive wildcard for the WTA’s latest tournament in the Middle East but was handed a tough draw against the Russian world No 25, who was fresh from winning the Linz Open last week.

Raducanu had impressively beaten Alexandrova in straight sets in the first round of the Australian Open last month and served better than she did in straight-sets defeat to Marketa Vondrousova in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, but the Russian ultimately proved too strong here in the key moments on the hard courts of Doha.

With her run of three consecutive round-one defeats (Singapore, Abu Dhabi and Qatar) coming soon after a chastening 6-1 6-0 loss to Iga Swiatek in the third round in Melbourne, the 2021 US Open champion has now lost four matches in a row for the first time in her career.

The Brit started well on Sunday by breaking Alexandrova’s serve at the first time of asking, establishing an early 3-1 lead, but the Russian then hit straight back to take the next five games and the first set.

Despite breaking twice in the early exchanges of the second set to lead 3-1 again, Raducanu could not convert the advantage all the way through the set and a decisive break for Alexandrova when tied at 5-5 proved the difference.

Raducanu has lost all three matches since Nick Cavaday stepped down as her coach for health reasons following the Australian Open.

The Doha result means that Alexandrova, rather than Raducanu, will now face world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka in Tuesday’s second round.

Elsewhere in round one in Doha, Alexandrova’s compatriot Mirra Andreeva – the 17-year-old 12th seed – survived a scare against America’s Katie Volynets to reach round two thanks to a 6-4, 6-7, 4-6 comeback win.

What else happened on Sunday on the WTA?

In the conclusion of the week’s WTA 250 event at the Transylvania Open, Anastasia Potapova came from behind to beat Lucia Bronzetti of Italy 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.

The top seed completed her victory in two hours and two minutes. It was the 23-year-old’s third WTA title and extended her winning run against Bronzetti to 5-0.

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