By Karolos Grohmann
PARIS (Reuters) – U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu was bundled out of the French Open in the second round on Wednesday, 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, was initially surprised by world number 47 Sasnovich’s attacking power.
Sasnovich was hitting the ball early, moving the Briton across the court before 19-year-old Raducanu responded in kind with some aggressive hitting.
After dragging her opponent wide of the court she earned a key break to lead 4-2 and bagged the opening set when she fired a superb cross court winner.
Undaunted, Sasnovich raised her game in the second set to race into a 4-0 lead.
The Belarusian, who had never gone past the second round in Paris, bagged the second with yet another break and then fought off multiple break points early in the deciding set before breaking for 3-1 when Raducanu sent a wild forehand five metres over the baseline.
Raducanu, who only played on clay professionally for the first time last month and had been struggling with a back injury in recent weeks, could do nothing to turn the tide.
A dominant Sasnovich put her out of her misery with a sizzling backhand down the line on her first match point after two hours.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; editing by Martyn Herman)
