EMMA RADUCANU has been forced to retire with a hip injury after playing the longest match of the WTA season in her first competitive outing since bowing out at the Australian Open.
The No1 seed was forced to quit after a gruelling three hours and 36 minutes in the first round of the Guadalajara Open, with Australia’s Daria Saville progressing 5-7 7-6(4) 4-3.
Emma Raducanu was defeated in Guadalajara
The Brit was forced to retire after a gruelling 3hr 36m battle
Raducanu claimed the first set after a tough 80 minutes by bouncing back from an early deficit before herself breaking Saville in the final game.
The Brit served for the match at 5-3 in the second but her opponent, ranked 610 in the world, broke back to force a tiebreak which she played cleanly to claim the set.
Both women appeared to be playing through pain in the decider, with Saville battling leg cramps and Raducanu taking an off-court medical timeout.
The world No12 returned to the court with her upper left leg taped and played two more games before deciding to retire down a break.
Reigning US Open champion Raducanu, 19, has suffered bad luck with injuries since her Flushing Meadows triumph.
She was unwell after competing at the Transylvania Open in October, before suffering from severe blisters in Australia.
The remains of her hand blisters could still be seen in pictures taken weeks after January’s Aussie Open.
Raducanu has one match win to her name in 2022, beating fellow former US Open champ Sloane Stephens in round one in Melbourne.
She is next set to play in Indian Wells next month, as she debuts in the California desert.
Raducanu battled hard in Mexico
