Madrid Open: Carle knocks out under-par Raducanu to make second round
Maria Lourdes Carle defeated Emma Raducanu 6-2, 6-2 on Wednesday afternoon and will play No 17 seed Veronika Kudermetova in the next round
Argentinian qualifier Maria Lourdes Carle defeated wildcard Emma Raducanu 6-2, 6-2 to advance to the second round of the Madrid Open at the Caja Magica.
It was a chastening afternoon for the former US Open champion, as she appeared to struggle with the high-altitude conditions in Madrid against a player who was dialled in and looking comfortable from the start.
Raducanu cut a fatigued figure throughout much of the match as she was unable to build on her excellent progress so far in this clay-court season.
Perhaps understandably so, as it is worth remembering that the Briton is still working her way back from an eight-month injury lay off and has played a lot of tennis in the past two weeks.
Carle, meanwhile, was very good value for her win, striking the ball cleanly throughout the contest as she reaffirms her status as a highly adept young clay-courter.
The Argentinian will be one to watch closely across this fortnight in Madrid and beyond.
She will face No 17 seed Veronika Kudermetova next.
Madrid WTA 1000, other first-round results (Caja Magica, clay, USD 8.770.480, most recent results first):
- Mirra Andreeva vs. Taylor Townsend
- Hailey Baptiste vs. Daria Saville
- Robin Montgomery vs. Elina Avanesyan
- Clara Burel vs. Olga Danilovic
- Sara Bejlek vs. Anna Blinkova
- Nao Hibino vs. Ashlyn Krueger
- Magdalena Frech vs. Jaqueline Cristian
- Sara Errani vs. Caroline Wozniacki
- Lucia Bronzetti vs. Varvara Gracheva
- Zhuoxuan Bai vs. Caroline Dolehide
- Magda Linette vs. Elisabetta Cocciaretto: wednesday
- Xinyu Wang vs. Viktoriya Tomova: wednesday
- Harriet Dart vs. Cristina Bucsa: wednesday
- Shelby Rogers beat Shuai Zhang: 6-3, 6-2
- Emiliana Arango vs. Amanda Anisimova: wednesday
- Naomi Osaka beat Greet Minnen (LL): 6-4, 6-1
- Donna Vekic beat Laura Siegemund (Q): 6-1, 6-2
- Sara Sorribes Tormo beat Bernarda Pera (Q): 7-5, 6-2
- Mayar Sherif beat Lauren Davis: 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4
- Yulia Putintseva beat Yue Yuan: 6-2, 6-4
- Jessica Bouzas Maneiro (Q) beat Paula Badosa: 2-6, 6-3, 6-3
- Sloane Stephens beat Martina Trevisan: 6-3, 5-7, 6-4
- Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva (WC) beat Lin Zhu: 6-4, 6-3
- Anna Karolina Schmiedlova beat Sofia Kenin: 6-3, 6-4
- Xiyu Wang beat Ana Bogdan: 6-7 (5), 7-6 (4), 6-2
- Anastasia Potapova beat Diana Shnaider: 7-5, 6-4
- Irina-Camelia Begu beat Linda Fruhvirtova (WC): 6-4, 7-6
- Tatjana Maria beat Peyton Stearns: 6-7 (4), 6-2, 7-6 (5)
- Nadia Podoroska beat Katerina Siniakova: 6-2, 7-6 (2)
- Arantxa Rus beat Brenda Fruhvirtova (WC): 7-5, 6-3
- Alexandra Eala (WC) beat Lesia Tsurenko: 2-6, 6-4, 6-4