EMMA RADUCANU PUT up a valiant effort but ultimately bowed out of the Madrid Open after a see-saw three-set defeat against unseeded Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina.
Raducanu was out-of-sorts and outmuscled in an opening set that lasted just 35 minutes, after which she briefly left the court for a medical timeout having clutched her back on a couple of occasions.
Amazingly, she seemed rejuvenated and took advantage of an error count creeping up from her opponent to take the third-round match to a decider, only for Kalinina to hold her nerve and prevail 6-2 2-6 6-4.
The wins keep coming π
— wta (@WTA) May 3, 2022
πΊπ¦ Anhelina Kalinina is into her πππππ WTA 1000 quarterfinal! Knocking out another Major champion in Raducanu.#MMOPEN pic.twitter.com/nyNNr0wwJl
While Kalinina can look forward to a quarter-final showdown against Switzerlandβs Jil Teichmann, Raducanu, seeded ninth in the Spanish capital, can take some solace for her dogged determination.
βI want to give credit to Emma because I think we both played very good quality, the match was great in my opinion,β Kalinina said afterwards on Amazon Prime.
βI appreciate in this moment I was maybe luckier and I did better in the decisive points. I am happy I won this match.β