by Staff Reporter
Toronto : Reigning US Open champion Emma Raducanu on Britain exited on Tuesday in the first round of the WTA Toronto Masters, losing 7-6 (7/0), 6-2 to Italy’s Camila Giorgi.
Defending WTA Canadian champion Giorgi won a combative first set and ran away with the second against the 19-year-old Englishwoman, whose title defence begins in less than three weeks in New York.
Giorgi needed just over an hour and three-quarters to advance to the second round over the ninth seed who broke into the ranking top 10 less than a month ago.
Raducanu had to hold on in a wild opening set, where serve was broken in six of the dozen games played.
The Briton saved a set point in the 12th game to bring on a tiebreaker, but collapsed to lose seven straight points as Giorgi took the set after 71 minutes.
Raducanu was broken three times in the second set as Giorgi finished off her victory.
