Emma Raducanu comes through in straight sets against late replacement opponent Renata Zarazua but says: “It was an incredibly difficult match”; you can watch the Hamburg, Swiss and Palermo Open, exclusively live on Sky Sports Tennis following the conclusion of Wimbledon.
Emma Raducanu said she had to “win ugly” as she sealed a 7-6 (7-0) 6-3 victory against Mexican lucky loser Renata Zarazua on her Wimbledon comeback.
Raducanu took advantage of her slice of good fortune to claim victory on her comeback at the All England Club and book a second-round clash on Wednesday with Belgium’s Elise Mertens.
Raducanu had been preparing to face 22nd seed Ekaterina Alexandrova, a big-hitting Russian who reached the fourth round here last year.
But Alexandrova withdrew through illness on Monday morning, and instead Raducanu’s opponent was Zarazua, who had never won a tour-level match on grass and was making her main draw debut here.
