Emma Raducanu crashed out of the Singapore Open in the first round, going down 5-7, 7-5, 7-5 to world No. 101 Cristina Bucsa in her first match since splitting with coach Nick Cavaday.
Cavaday, who worked with the Brit as a junior before reuniting last year, stepped back from his role to “prioritise getting back to full health”. The decision left Raducanu searching for the seventh full-time coach of her young career.
At the Singapore Open, Raducanu was supported by fitness coach Yutaka Nakamura, where she faced world No. 101 Bucsa in the first round.
Having missed the majority of the 2024 Asian Swing, Raducanu beamed as she entered the court in Kallang and was cheered on by her mother Renee Zhai, who made a rare appearance at one of her daughter’s matches.
She won just one set in a 6-1, 6-0 thrashing by Iga Swiatek in Melbourne last time out, a scoreline that Raducanu described as “harsh”.
And the British No. 2 survived an early scare, with Bucsa surging to two break points in the very first set, before Raducanu rallied to hold.
Seventh-seed Raducanu then broke in the third game, with her Spanish opponent especially struggling on second serves, to gain an early foothold in the match.
Raducanu’s serve was patchy throughout. It was an area of her game that Cavaday especially worked hard to overhaul, particularly while she skipped last year’s French Open, with the now-ex-coach wanting her racket face pointing at the sky when serving.
Bucsa immediately broke back as Raducanu struggled to avoid double faults.
She was broken again as Bucsa led 5-4, forcing the Brit onto her backfoot with some heavy hitting while Raducanu had issues with her serve.
Bucsa could not take advantage, however, as Raducanu broke with emphasis and then served to love, breaking once again to take the first set 7-5 and banish some well-placed nerves.
Doubles specialist and Olympic bronze medallist Bucsa had a few net cords go against her in the first set, but one went in her favour to tip the scales of the first game in her favour. Neither player was confident on their serve and the second set began with three breaks.
Bucsa then became the first player to successfully hold serve and Raducanu got her nose back in front with three consecutive set wins, but could not get the better of her opponent any further and lost the second set 7-5.
Raducanu would have hoped to avoid a decider, but let out a big roar when she broke Bucsa to go 2-0 up.
The pair traded four breaks out of five, as Bucsa enjoyed playing against the Raducanu serve, with serious work needed as she double-faulted six times throughout the contest.
The Brit clutched the back of her neck in a potential injury concern, but her big hold went to waste when she was broken and Bucsa could serve for the match, which she saw through to claim a major scalp after three hours of play.
A run to the quarter-finals in Singapore would likely have moved Raducanu back into the top 50, but now Bucsa will face either Mananchaya Sawangkaew or Sijia Wei in the last 16 instead.
