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Emma Raducanu has been beaten in her first pro doubles match as she and Clara Tauson lost their opener at the Citi Open in Washington. Raducanu and Tauson didn't really have much luck with their draw as they were drawn to face doubles specialists Lucie Hradecka and Monica Niculescu in their opener.
Hradecka and Niculescu, two top-40 doubles players, saw off Raducanu and Tauson 6-4 6-1. Raducanu and Tauson got off to a very slow start as Hradecka and Tauson started the match with back-to-back breaks and a 4-0 lead.
Down by two breaks, Raducanu and Tauson refused to quit as they broke back Hradecka and Niculescu twice to cut the deficit to 5-4. Just when it seemed that the momentum had shifted on Raducanu and Tauson's side, they got broken in the 10th game - when they were serving to stay in the first set.
Raducanu and Tauson's game collapsed after losing the first set as Hradecka and Niculescu claimed two breaks in the second set to complete a straight-set win.
Raducanu set for her singles campaign in Washington
Today, Raducanu is set to start her singles campaign in Washington.
In the first round, Raducanu plays Louisa Chirico. “This year was always going to be pretty tricky, trying to find my feet at this sort of level,” Raducanu said. “I skipped every stage basically. I went from playing a few [ITF] 25s to playing the Top 10 [in WTA 250s, 500s and 1000s], playing the slams and everything.
Still managed to win a round or two in some bigger events. I’m quite proud of myself in that way. I’ve learnt that I’m pretty resilient. I’ve pretty much been knocked down every single week literally in front of everyone, get back up every single time.
It’s just a fun learning experience for me”. It remains to be seen if Raducanu can potentially win her first title of the year this week.