Emma Raducanu and Naomi Osaka both lose in US Open first round
Emma Raducanu and Naomi Osaka both lost in the first round of the US Open and are now two of the 13 wild cards from the tournament to the French Open.
Raducanu had a solid opening match against Yulia Gorskikh, who played as an underdog. Raducanu won 6-4, 6-4, and Osaka had a solid game against Daria Gavrilova. The first-round match ended with Raducanu winning 6-2, 6-3.
Osaka lost to Angelique Kerber in a six-set match that covered three hours and 10 minutes. The 18-year-old Osaka had a chance in the first set but couldn’t get past Kerber, and in the second set she got broken by a backhand lob.
Raducanu’s opening match also included fellow Romanian Eugenie Bouchard, who had a chance to make the top 20 but she lost to Tereza Smitkova in the fourth round. Raducanu beat Kristyna Pliskova in the second round.
After the match, Raducanu said: “I was too nervous. It was my best match because I was playing her in my first match. It was fun playing her, it was super hard, especially if you can’t serve it. I feel like, right now, I’m the worst, but I’m going to try to make it my best match.”
Julieta Vontavicius, who represented her native country of Lithuania, has a career-high ranking of no. 5 after defeating Agnieszka Radwańska 7-6(6), 6-4. The match took 2 hours and 42 minutes, and Radwańska has a career-best ranking of no. 4. Vontavicius is the first player from the country to qualify for the French Open main draw.
Vontavicius said she was inspired by the support from fans after her victory in Rome. “I am very happy to see the support, especially from my country,” she said. “We are happy for the victory. What I want to do is, this week, I will compete