Emma Raducanu made a strong start at the Madrid Open, earning her first clay win in over a year. Returning to action after a brief break from competition, the British No. 2 came back from a break down in both sets to beat Suzan Lamens 7-6(4) 6-4 while her “informal” coach Mark Petchey watched on from the box.
Raducanu had not won a match in Madrid since 2022, pulling out of the tournament in 2023 to have surgery and suffering a tough opening-round defeat 12 months ago. But the world No. 49 now finds herself in the second round to face Marta Kostyuk.
The former US Open champion was playing her first clay match of the season, while Lamens had already earned some big wins on the surface. The world No. 73 beat British No. 1 Katie Boulter and Germany’s Tatjana Maria at the BJK Cup earlier this month.
Lamens then reached the semi-final at last week’s WTA 250 in Rouen, upsetting 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu and second seed Linda Noskova en route.
The Dutchwoman’s recent form showed early on, as she earned the first break of the match to lead 3-2, but Raducanu pegged her back and levelled the score.
The Brit saved three more break points later in the set before taking it in a tiebreak despite losing an early mini-break.
But Lamens refused to go away. Again, it was an early break for the world No. 73 in set two, and again, Raducanu broke straight back.
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