EMMA RADUCANU'S French Open preparations suffered a setback as she was forced to retire from her first-round match at the Internazionali BNL D’Italia.
A niggling back issue, which hampered her at the Madrid Open last week, once again put paid to her chances as she struggled through 11 games against Bianca Andreescu.
The British number one was 6-2 2-1 down when she left the court in Rome, telling a physio: “I can’t move.”
A one-sided first set saw Raducanu have no answer to Andreescu’s power while struggling to make her own serve count.
Raducanu spent some time off the court for treatment and she was clearly uncomfortable when play got back under way.
Andreescu, like Raducanu born in Canada with Romanian heritage and a US Open winner, is herself building back up to full fitness after a knee injury,
Now Raducanu, currently without a full-time coach following her split from Torben Beltz, will be hoping to return to full fitness by the time the French Open gets under way at Roland Garros in under a fortnight’s time.
In the men’s draw, Novak Djokovic stormed into the third round as he aims to retain his place at the top of the men’s rankings.
A 6-3 6-2 victory over Aslan Karatsev saw Djokovic advance, knowing he needs to reach the semi-finals to remain world number one having missed several tournaments due to his coronavirus vaccination status.
There was also a win for British ninth seed Cameron Norrie, who beat wildcard Luca Nardi 6-4 6-4 to set-up a third-round clash with Marin Cilic.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here