Emma Raducanu retired with a hip injury in the opening round of the Guadalajara Open.
Australia’s Daria Saville was leading the US Open champion 5-7 7-6 (7-4) 4-3 when the Briton ended the match shortly after taking a medical timeout.
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The match lasted 3 hours and 36 minutes, setting the mark for the longest WTA match of the season.
Raducanu has won just one of her three matches this season.
Going the distance under the lights 🌙
🇦🇺 @Daria_gav clinches the tiebreak against Raducanu in Guadalajara!#AbiertoAKRON pic.twitter.com/0GiDcndIeh
— wta (@WTA) February 23, 2022
Both Raducanu and Saville came into Tuesday night’s match in search of match-play but neither could have imagined it would come in bulk.
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The Brit was playing her first match since a hand blister left her hampered in a three-set loss to Danka Kovinic in the second round of the Australian Open.
Having battled for over 2 hours and 40 minutes, both women fought off physical woes in the deciding set.
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After falling behind 2-0, Saville fought through leg cramps to hold serve to get on the board. Saville led 3-2 before Raducanu took an off-court medical timeout and returned to court with her upper left leg taped.
Clearly hampered in her movement, the 18-year-old bravely played two more games before making the decision to retire down a break at 4-3.
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, 3-4 against Daria Saville){kind=link}