Rusty Raducanu falls flat in belated return to tennis

Emma Raducanu will head to the Sunday start at Roland Garros with one clay court match in her spring resumee after taking a 6-4, 7-6 (4) opening loss in Strasbourg to Diane Parry.

The Briton had played her last match more than two months ago at Indian Wells, came and went on the clay Tuesday after a long pause due to various injury and illness scenarios.

The No. 37 was coachless until a few days ago when she returned Andrew Richardson to post after he guided her to the US Open title in 2021 as a teenaged qualifier.

Raducanu could well struggle in Paris when Grand Slam play gets underway after missing most of the spring.

The Brit got away to a 4-2 led over Frenchwoman Parry, but the margin soon evaporated as double-faults came into play.

She salvaged five break points in the second set but was unable to establish a comeback rhythm  against her 94th-ranked local opponent.

Raducanu managed to stop Parry from serving out a 5-4 lead but was unable to make a match of it in the tiebreaker as she took the loss after two and a half hours in the French city near the German border.

Though she lost serve five times, Raducanu did hold off 16 other break chances in the defeat.