Raducanu’s Paris adventure cut short by Sasnovich

Emma Raducanu

Aliaksandra Sasnovich

PARIS, (Reuters): U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu was bundled out of the French Open in the second round yesterday, losing 3-6 6-1 6-1 to inspired Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich.

The 12th seeded Briton, who had to dig deep in her opening match to come from a set down to beat Czech qualifier Linda Noskova, faded badly after a strong start as her inexperience on clay was exposed by her opponent. “I still have got quite a long way to go on this surface,” Raducanu, who played her first pro match on clay as recently as last month, told reporters.

“I had a good first experience on clay and definitely can improve a lot more than I play right now.”

“It just takes a lot more to win the point on this surface. For the clay season I had no expectations. I put myself in four tournaments in a row thinking I will lose in the first round. I won a few matches in each.”

The Belarusian Sasnovich had never gone past the second round in Paris previously.