VIENNA (Dispatches) – U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu’s breakthrough season has ended with defeat in her opening match at the Upper Austria Ladies event in Linz.
Raducanu, 18, lost 6-1 6-7 (0-7) 7-5 to China’s Wang Xinyu before confirming Torben Beltz will be her new coach.
Wang, 20, played at a higher level than her world ranking of 106 as Raducanu, the top seed in the event, suffered a second straight defeat.
The British number one was hampered by injury near the end of a tight decider.
Having received a first-round bye in Linz, Raducanu had not played a match since losing 6-1 6-2 against Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk in the Transylvanian Open on 29 October.
Since that defeat in Romania, she has also struggled with illness.
“Considering the last week I’ve had, I’m very proud of myself,” said Raducanu, who climbed into the world’s top 20 for the first time on Monday.
“I thought it was a really high level match.”