Emma Raducanu won her first match at the Nottingham Open against Japan’s Ena Shibahara, securing a straight-sets victory and safe passage to the next round.
The 21-year-old Brit made her grass-court return on home soil 713 days since her wrist injury, winning 6-1, 6-4. However, the she criticised some of the line calls made in the match.
“I feel like I was playing two vs one on court, it was insane,” Raducanu said.
“I think a lot of the time they go both ways, today I felt they were all against me but it just makes me feel better that I managed to beat her and the umpire as well.
“It is difficult when there is no challenge but it is something everyone has to deal with.
“You can be fortunate in some ways, maybe it was just trying to make the match more competitive. It was 6-1 and 5-1 and all of a sudden first point serving at 5-3 it’s a really bad line call.
“It’s something I had to deal with and overcome. I am very pleased with the attitude I came out with from the get-go and also having to deal with the adversity.”
The win looked comfortable for Raducanu in the second set after she went up 5-1, but Shibahara fought her way back by taking three games in a row.
However, Raducanu’s quality eventually won out as a stunning return on match point ended the contest. She will now face Ukraine’s Daria Snigur in the second round.
Earlier on Tuesday, Dan Evans won his opening match at the Nottingham Open against Switzerland’s Dominic Stricker. The deciding set was played after the match was suspended after two sets on Monday due to poor lighting.
Tuesday’s final set was interrupted when Stricker went down with an injury with the score tied 3-3 and was escorted off the court for a medical timeout. However, when he returned, he failed to regain his full physical capacity as Evans took the final three games to win the set.
Evans, who won the Nottingham Open in 2019 and 2022, won the match 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.