Emma Ruducanu suffered a heavy loss at the start of the season

The 2021 US Open champion Emma Ruducanu suffered a heavy loss in the first round of the WTA 500 Sydney Classics, which is a warm-up before the Australian Open. The British teenager lost by 0-2 (0:6, 1:6) to the ninth-seeded Elena Rybakina from Kazakhstan.

The match was the first of the season for 19-year-old Raducanu, who recently contracted a coronavirus and was completely outplayed by Elena Rybakina. She had service problems and made four double faults. Kazakhstan’s player needed only 56 minutes to finish the match.

In the next round, Elena Rybakina will face Caroline Garcia (France), who won her match versus Jessica Pegula (USA) by 2-0 (6:4, 7:6)

The 22-year-old Elena Rybakina played in the final in the WTA 500 Adelaide International last week, when lost to world number one Ashleigh Barty.