(Reuters) – Briton Emma Raducanu was unable to overcome a back injury which forced her to retire from her first round match against Bianca Andreescu at the Italian Open on Tuesday.
Raducanu, who had also struggled with a back injury during her previous tournament in Madrid, was trailing 6-2 2-1 when she called it quits.
The battle of the reigning and former U.S. Open champions on clay looked an intriguing prospect but Raducanu struggled from the outset and served poorly, handing Andreescu a number of break points.
Raducanu was clutching her back when she took a medical timeout after going 5-2 down but returned to the court minutes later where the Canadian held to love to take the opening set.
The 19-year-old Raducanu held serve at the start of the second set but looked uncomfortable yet again and this time she took the decision to retire when she was down 2-1 in the second.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; editing by Pritha Sarkar)
