Emma Raducanu made her belated season debut for England within the United Cup, however suffered her first defeat to Maria Sakkari.
The 23-year-old withdrew from England’s opening combined staff occasion towards Japan in Perth on Sunday attributable to a foot downside that had plagued her all through pre-season.
Raducanu, who suffered an sickness late final season and performed his first sport since October, lacked the sharpness and stamina wanted to win 5 of 5 towards Sakkari, dropping 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 and blamed England for his or her loss to Greece.
Raducanu was supported courtside by coach Francisco Roig and Nice Britain captain Tim Henman and informed Sky Sports activities:
“She had one other good observe and wished to exit and check out it out. She’s been nice as a member of the staff and loves representing her nation, so it is nice to have her on the court docket tonight.”
Raducanu obtained off to an ideal begin, breaking Sakkari’s serve within the first sport, however was quickly beneath stress and the Greek gained six of the final seven video games of the primary set.
This was the primary set that Sakkari managed to win towards the previous US Open champion, and the primary assembly between the 2 came about throughout Laducanu’s well-known run in New York.
Raducanu has efficiently defeated Sakkari prior to now and compelled him into making a ton of errors, however this time was completely different.
Raducanu could have been inspired by the way in which she fought again from a breakdown to win the second set, however the world No. 29 shortly pale within the deciding match, as she did in a number of matches late final season.
Earlier, Billy Harris got here very near one of many greatest wins of his profession, dropping in a decisive tiebreaker to Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Harris, who is sort of 100 locations decrease than the Greek (127th), gained the primary set and pushed Tsitsipas to the tip regardless of dropping 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (4).
Tsitsipas praised his English opponent, who changed the injured Jack Draper, saying: “I need to congratulate Billy. He put in an incredible efficiency.
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“It has been some time since I’ve had a match of this high quality. He was actually good and pushed me to my limits. No matter who wins or loses, I believe matches like this are nice for the game.”
In different matches, Coco Gauff’s serving struggles resurfaced as she dedicated 14 double faults in a 6-1, 6-7 (3), 6-0 loss to Spain’s Jessica Buzas Maneiro, however she returned to the court docket with Christian Harrison and gained the doubles match, clinching a spot within the quarterfinals for the US.
Iga Swiatek needed to battle again from a set right down to beat Germany’s Eva Liss 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, whereas Hubert Hurkasz, returning after seven months with a knee damage, sealed victory for Poland with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Alexander Zverev.
