Emma Raducanu came down to earth in her first tournament since her surprising US Open victory, losing in straight sets to Aliaksandra Sasnovich at the BNP Paribas Open today.
Raducanu lost 6-2, 6-4 in the second round, ending her 10-match winning streak that began in New York. She received a wild card into the combined ATP and WTA tournament in the Southern California desert.
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It was Raducanu’s fifth Tour-level event since making her WTA Tour debut in June.
“I’m kind of glad that what happened today happened so I can learn and take it as a lesson so going forward I’ll just have more experience banked,” she said.
Sasnovich, a 27-year-old from Belarus ranked 100th in the world, reached the doubles semifinals last month at the US Open while Raducanu was completing a stunning run from qualifier to champion at age 18.
“Emma just won the US Open and I lost there in the first round,” Sasnovich said, “so it was a little bit different.”
Sasnovich got service breaks to take leads of 3-1 and 5-2 and close out the set in 30 minutes without ever losing her serve.
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Raducanu rallied in the second set, taking a 4-2 lead.
But Sasnovich broke for a fifth time and led 5-4 before serving out the match. Sasnovich won 53 per cent of her second serves to just 29 per cent for Raducanu.
“I’m still so new to everything,” Raducanu said. “The experiences that I’m going through right now, even though I might not feel 100 per cent amazing right now, I know they’re for the greater good.”
Sasnovich advanced to play No.11 seed Simona Halep in the third round. Halep beat Marta Kostyuk 7-6 (2), 6-1.
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