Emma Raducanu out of Linz, beaten by Xinyu Wang

Emma Raducanu played a very solid match but a late injury left her helpless against a very inspired Xinyu Wang 1-6 7-6(0) 7-5.

The first set was almost perfect from Wang who enjoys playing a very similar style to Raducanu. Both of them like to attack and avoid long rallies but Wang probably hits with even more power than Raducanu does. In the first set, she, quite literally, hit everything she wanted and Raducanu was unable to counter that. It's hard to argue any tennis player would have countered that but it was 6-1 to Wang.

The 2nd set was much more competitive as the level balanced out a bit. Raducanu was better while Wangs was not as sharp hitting an error here and there. Right at the start, we saw the players trade breaks with Raducanu taking another break later on for the 4-2 lead. Wang would battle back to make it 4-4 after which both settled a bit we ended up in a tiebreak.

There it was Raducanu who dominated play with her stellar play winning it 7-0. We went into the decider with Raducanu full of confidence and it was reflected in her play. She did not shy away from going for the flashy finish and she was hitting them. Even so, Wang was not impressed and she did not waver from her play. Both kept winning their games rather easily and the score was 4-4.

After that Raducanu's play kind of dipped with her movement somewhat slower than usual. In the previous she slipped in a strange fashion and it seems like she hurt herself a bit. Wang broke her easily for the 5-4 with a MTO for the Brit after that. She received a lengthy massage and continued the match but kept grabing her leg after every point.

Even so, she did not give up in the match. She saved a match point first and proceeded to break her opponent for the 5-5 result. In the end, Raducanu did not have enough and Wang was able to move on with 7-5.