Emma Raducanu misses chance to further Rome Open and French Open chances after Madrid Open hammering

Emma Raducanu was thrashed 6-2, 6-2 by Maria Lourdes Carle and missed a golden opportunity to further her ranking and move up towards potentially not needing a wildcard for either the Rome Open or French Open in the coming weeks.

Raducanu jumped over 80 spots to 221st in the rankings after her run to the last eight in Stuttgart. But after a solid start, tiredness and fatigue played a part for the Brit in Madrid she admitted in a display that was widely criticised by those who watched it.

Carle was able to break Raducanu's serve six times with the Brit winning just 46% of points behind her first serve and only 14% behind her second serve. Raducanu was only able to seal 46% of points behind her first serve and on the whole struggled. As has been reported previously, Raducanu could struggle in the coming weeks to get wildcards into tournaments. The Brit will be looking for one of two spots into the Rome Open with a mainly Italian contingent so far, but faces increased competition.

Similar to the Australian Open, Raducanu likely has to benefit from withdrawals in order to get into the French Open. All wildcards confirmed last year were French players or those with reciprocal agreements from other Grand Slams. The Carle loss is damning as she would've gone back into the top 200 in the live rankings. This would've improved her chances of a wildcard with no guarantee that she will get near the main draw of either event. An anxious wait awaits and similar to Caroline Wozniacki's Olympic dream, it seems like the clock is running out up until the Grass court season.