Emma Raducanu's US Open preparations take another blow after defeat to Camila Giorgi at Canadian Open
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Updated 10/08/2022 at 06:57 GMT
Emma Raducanu pushed defending champion Camila Giorgi hard in their first set at the Canadian Open, but having lost the tie-break to love she struggled to regain the momentum in the second set, with Giorgi at one stage taking 17 straight points to cruise to victory. It's a setback to Raducanu's US Open preparations as she gears up to defend her title at Flushing Meadows in New York.
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Emma Raducanu's preparations for the US Open saw another setback as she lost in straight sets to Camila Giorgi at the Canadian Open.
Giorgi - the defending champion - had just too much power for Raducanu, hitting a host of winners to cruise to victory after a hard-fought opening set.
Raducanu battled gamely but didn't appear to possess the same heavy shot-making that she showed during her momentous run to the US Open last year, and will go back to the drawing board with new coach Dmitry Tursunov ahead of her next port of call in Cincinatti.
Giorgi's triumph last year in Canada was something of a surprise, with the Italian never having gone beyond the fourth round at any WTA 1000 tournament prior to that.
She would've hoped for an easier first-round match than Raducanu, and the Brit looked intent on coming out of the blocks quickly as she broke Giorgi in the first game.
However, Raducanu was helped by three double faults from her opponent in that opener, and - after Raducanu had then been broken in her own first service game - the Italian was again all over the place with her serve in game three and gifted the Briton a 2-1 lead.
Strangely, the failing serve didn't seem to be affecting Giorgi's confidence in the rallies, and she broke Raducanu again in the next game to make it four breaks in a row.
Finally there was a hold in Giorgi's next service game as she headed for the sit-down at 3-2, and Raducanu followed suit thereafter with Giorgi throwing in a loose return game after her previously solid efforts.
The problems on serve continued for Giorgi continued, as Raducanu - despite netting a mid-court forehand with the game at her mercy - made no mistake when coming forward on the next point, forcing a Giorgi error to take a 4-3 lead with the break.
Raducanu found herself 0-40 down as she tried to push further ahead in the set, and after a number of deuces she couldn't hold off the improving Italian who drew level at 4-4.
After eight games, Giorgi had played 32% of her shots inside the baseline - compared to Raducanu's 10% - in an indication of how the match was developing.
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In the blustery conditions, Giorgi then held to go one game from the set, but Raducanu displayed commendable calm at the business end of the set to make it 5-5.
Giorgi whistled through her next before Raducanu dug deep to force a tie-break, delivering one stunning forehand pass as she fought off Giorgi's push to take the set.
Having done so much to take the set the distance, Raducanu couldn't live with Giorgi as the Italian upped the intensity, taking the breaker to love and with it the first set, 7-6.
What could Raducanu bring in the second set against an opponent playing with so much accuracy and aggression?
At first, similar levels of fight as the pair arrived at 2-2 with one break of serve each.
But Giorgi - as she had done in tie-break - suddenly put her foot on the accelerator and broke Raducanu to love in the fifth game.
Raducanu looked somewhat stunned and after battling for the best part of an hour and a half, perhaps her efforts caught up with her as Giorgi put together an extraordinary run of 17 unanswered points to take a 5-2 lead.
A miscued smash and another double fault pointed to some nerves from Giorgi as she sought to close out the match, but in the end she regained her composure to take the victory and keep up her excellent recent record at this tournament.
"I think it was a really good match, to be honest," Raducanu said afterwards. "I think that the level was pretty high. Especially in the first set.
"Camila is a great opponent. She won this tournament last year. I just need to get better at dealing with players who play probably as quick as she does."
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