Emma Raducanu won her first match since the US Open, beating Dayana Yastremska at the Slovenia Open in Portoroz on Monday.
Raducanu, the defending champion, had gone into the US Open this year with high hopes only to suffer a disappointingly early exit.
She decided to take a wild card to enter this tournament and won her first match in Slovenia when the 19-year-old defeated Ukraine’s Yastremska.
Emma Raducanu lost to France’s Alize Cornet in the first round of this year’s US Open (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Raducanu picked up the first set 6-2 and was leading 5-3 in the second before the Ukrainian was forced to pull out.
Yastremska had aggravated an existing injury to her wrist and had to withdraw.
Raducanu had saved all but one of four break points on her serve as she sunk Yastremska, who retired two points from defeat.
Raducanu was pleased to win this, her first match since the defence of her US Open title ended in a first-round defeat to Alize Cornet.
“It has been really nice to be here. I came here early and it is a great place to have a tournament,” she said afterwards.
“Nobody wants to win by retirement. She is a ferocious competitor. I fought hard to stay in the points. I am happy to be in the next round.”
Her frustrating US Open campaign left Raducanu at 83 in this week’s new world rankings but Raducanu is shrugging that off and had insisted she relished the “clean slate” it afforded her in her bid to return to the top of the game.
