Emma Raducanu of Great Britain started her campaign at the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open in the United Arab Emirates with a comfortable victory over Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic, prevailing 6-4, 6-1.
Raducanu, who surprised the tennis world by winning the 2021 US Open, was granted a wild card entry into the tournament after a significant portion of her 2023 season was disrupted by surgeries on both wrists and one ankle.
She demonstrated her dominance by breaking Bouzkova’s serve seven times out of nine opportunities and outstripping her opponent with a total of 23 winners to Bouzkova’s 15. Her next challenge will be against Tunisian player Ons Jabeur, whom she will face for the first time. Jabeur, seeded second at the Abu Dhabi Open, received a bye in the first round.
Raducanu, aged 21, made her comeback to grand slam tennis at the Australian Open after recovering from injuries that plagued her in 2023. However, her Australian Open journey ended in the second round with a loss to China’s Wang Yafan in a closely contested match.
In other matches at the tournament, sixth-seeded Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil staged a comeback to defeat Xiyu Wang of China 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) after trailing 0-3 in the second set and 4-2 in the tie-breaker.
Seventh-seeded Daria Kasatkina of Russia managed to overcome France’s Diane Parry 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, while Ashlyn Krueger of the United States emerged victorious against Bernarda Pera in a closely fought battle. Romania’s Sorana Cirstea narrowly defeated France’s Caroline Garcia in a three-set encounter.
In Cluj-Napoca, Romania, Dutch top seed Arantxa Rus began her tournament with a solid 7-5, 6-1 win over Belgium’s Greet Minnen, utilizing three aces and saving four out of five break points. Third-seeded Anna Blinkova of Russia breezed through her match, defeating Switzerland’s Simona Waltert 6-3, 6-0 in just 69 minutes.
However, not all seeded players had smooth sailing in the first round. Colombia’s Camila Osorio caused an upset by defeating seventh-seeded Viktoriya Tomova of Bulgaria 6-2, 6-4, while Argentine ninth seed Nadia Podoroska suffered a defeat at the hands of Denmark’s Clara Tauson, losing 6-3, 6-1.
Eighth seed Ana Bogdan of Romania and Spaniard Nuria Parrizas Diaz also advanced to the second round with victories in their respective matches.
