Emma Raducanu admitted to not being at her best, but was pleased to mark her return to action with a straight-sets win over Suzan Lamens at the Madrid Open.
The 22-year-old took a break from the WTA Tour following her run to the Miami Open quarter-finals last month and instead took part in a training block with Mark Petchey ahead of the clay-court swing.
It appeared to pay dividends as British number two Raducanu opened her campaign in the Spanish capital with a 7-6 (4) 6-4 victory over Lamens to continue her good form since she started an “informal” partnership with Andy Murray’s former coach Petchey.
Raducanu said in her on-court interview: “I know I had to play really well to win and although it wasn’t always my best, I got stuck in at the right moments.
“I’m proud of how I competed. It is a strength of mine when I can use it.
“It’s for sure different stepping into the competition, especially on clay. I haven’t played many matches on this surface, so it does feel a little foreign to me.
“I’m happy with how I kind of worked my way into the match. I played an opponent in great form who has won a lot of matches on clay so I knew I had to play really well to win. I don’t think I played my best level but I think I competed really well.”
Lamens had been part of the Netherlands team which lost to Great Britain in the Billie Jean King Cup earlier this month – a play-off Raducanu elected to miss in order to train before the clay-court part of the season – and broke first in this round-one tie to move 3-2 up.
Raducanu broke straight back and showed impressive resolve to save three break points soon before she claimed the tie-break with a run of four straight points.
World number 73 Lamens again made a strong start to the second set and moved 2-0 up, but Raducanu responded to break twice and served out at the first time of asking.
The victory marked Raducanu’s first in Madrid for three years and set up a second-round meeting with Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk, who is seeded 24th.
