Madrid Open: Carle knocks out under-par Raducanu to make second round

Argentinian qualifier Maria Lourdes Carle defeated wildcard Emma Raducanu 6-2, 6-2 to advance to the second round of the Madrid Open at the Caja Magica.

It was a chastening afternoon for the former US Open champion, as she appeared to struggle with the high-altitude conditions in Madrid against a player who was dialled in and looking comfortable from the start.

Raducanu cut a fatigued figure throughout much of the match as she was unable to build on her excellent progress so far in this clay-court season.

Perhaps understandably so, as it is worth remembering that the Briton is still working her way back from an eight-month injury lay off and has played a lot of tennis in the past two weeks.

Carle, meanwhile, was very good value for her win, striking the ball cleanly throughout the contest as she reaffirms her status as a highly adept young clay-courter.

The Argentinian will be one to watch closely across this fortnight in Madrid and beyond.

She will face No 17 seed Veronika Kudermetova next.

Madrid WTA 1000, other first-round results (Caja Magica, clay, USD 8.770.480, most recent results first):

• Mirra Andreeva vs. Taylor Townsend
• Hailey Baptiste vs. Daria Saville
• Robin Montgomery vs. Elina Avanesyan
• Clara Burel vs. Olga Danilovic
• Sara Bejlek vs. Anna Blinkova
• Nao Hibino vs. Ashlyn Krueger
• Magdalena Frech vs. Jaqueline Cristian
• Sara Errani vs. Caroline Wozniacki
• Lucia Bronzetti vs. Varvara Gracheva
• Zhuoxuan Bai vs. Caroline Dolehide
• Magda Linette vs. Elisabetta Cocciaretto: wednesday
• Xinyu Wang vs. Viktoriya Tomova: wednesday
• Harriet Dart vs. Cristina Bucsa: wednesday
• Shelby Rogers beat Shuai Zhang: 6-3, 6-2
• Emiliana Arango vs. Amanda Anisimova: wednesday
• Naomi Osaka beat Greet Minnen (LL): 6-4, 6-1
• Donna Vekic beat Laura Siegemund (Q): 6-1, 6-2
• Sara Sorribes Tormo beat Bernarda Pera (Q): 7-5, 6-2
• Mayar Sherif beat Lauren Davis: 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4
• Yulia Putintseva beat Yue Yuan: 6-2, 6-4
• Jessica Bouzas Maneiro (Q) beat Paula Badosa: 2-6, 6-3, 6-3
• Sloane Stephens beat Martina Trevisan: 6-3, 5-7, 6-4
• Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva (WC) beat Lin Zhu: 6-4, 6-3
• Anna Karolina Schmiedlova beat Sofia Kenin: 6-3, 6-4
• Xiyu Wang beat Ana Bogdan: 6-7 (5), 7-6 (4), 6-2
• Anastasia Potapova beat Diana Shnaider: 7-5, 6-4
• Irina-Camelia Begu beat Linda Fruhvirtova (WC): 6-4, 7-6
• Tatjana Maria beat Peyton Stearns: 6-7 (4), 6-2, 7-6 (5)
• Nadia Podoroska beat Katerina Siniakova: 6-2, 7-6 (2)
• Arantxa Rus beat Brenda Fruhvirtova (WC): 7-5, 6-3
• Alexandra Eala (WC) beat Lesia Tsurenko: 2-6, 6-4, 6-4