Emma Raducanu's run in the 2022 Ostrava Open came to a swift end as she was beaten by Russia's Daria Kasatkina in straight sets in the first round.
The injury-plagued 19-year-old rued a number of errors as she lost 5-7 4-6 in one hour and 32 minutes, and the writing was on the wall after she was broken in the first game.
Raducanu managed to claw her way back to 2-2 against the fifth seed with a break of her own, but Kasatkina broke again in the ninth game after the Brit's forehand errors bedevilled her.
After breaking the Brit to love in the ninth game, Kasatkina saved two break-back points – the cross-court forehand coming to the fore – but Raducanu took the third one with a similar effort to keep the first set alive.
Another wild forehand from Raducanu undid all of her hard work as Kasatkina broke again, and more shots into the net from the former US Open champion handed the Russian the first set. Frustration soon started to show for Raducanu, whose forehand left a lot to be desired.
With Raducanu serving to stay in the match after being broken again, she held to love before Kasatkina brought up match point, producing some strong defensive play before a stunning forehand passed Raducanu at the net.
The fifth seed would fail to take that opportunity to close the contest as she netted a forehand, but she would make no mistake on the second match point to get the job done.
While Raducanu suffered disappointment in Ostrava, there was success elsewhere for GB, as Harriet Dart beat Nuria Parrizas-Diaz 6-2 6-4 in the first round of the Jasmin Open, while Dan Evans battled past Radu Albot 6-7[3] 6-1 6-4 in Japan.
Ben Knapton
