INDIAN WELLS, Calif. – Emma Raducanu came down to earth in her first tournament since her surprising U.S. Open victory, losing in straight sets to Aliaksandra Sasnovich at the BNP Paribas Open on Friday night.
Raducanu lost 6-2, 6-4 in the second round, ending her 10-match winning streak that began in New York. She received a wild-card into the combined ATP and WTA tournament in the Southern California desert.
“I’m kind of glad that what happened today happened so I can learn and take it as a lesson so going forward I’ll just have more experience banked,” she said.
Meanwhile, Canadian Leylah Fernandez, who lost to Raducanu in the U.S. Open final, defeated France’s Alize Cornet 6-2, 6-3 on Friday. The 19-year-old from from Laval, Que., converted 5 of 9 break points and hit 71% of her second serves.
“I’m very happy with the way I played. I trained very hard after that final, just wanting to be back here in my first Indian Wells,” Fernandez said in her post-match on-court interview.
Fernandez will next play Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the third round on Sunday.
With files from CBC News
The Associated Press
