Raducanu wins comfortably on WTA clay court debut

Emma Raducanu hits a return against Storm Sanders in Stuttgart — Emma Raducanu hit more winners (17) than unforced errors (14) and landed 83% of her first serves in a one-sided win against Storm Sanders

Emma Raducanu comfortably won her first WTA Tour match on clay as she breezed into the second round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart.

The British number one needed just one hour and 10 minutes to beat Australian qualifier Storm Sanders 6-1 6-2.

Raducanu, 19, appeared unaffected by the blisters that hampered her during Britain’s Billie Jean King Cup defeat by the Czech Republic at the weekend.

“It’s been a good start for me to the clay season,” said the eighth seed.

“I’m really excited to spend more time on this surface and really happy with my performance.”

US Open champion Raducanu had never played a senior match on clay until last weekend’s BJK Cup qualifier in Prague.

Her first match on the surface resulted in a 7-5 7-5 win against world number 50 Tereza Martincova on Friday before she lost 6-1 6-1 to 2019 French Open finalist Marketa Vondrousova on Saturday.

Raducanu was hampered by blisters on her right foot against Vondrousova, later revealing she was bathing her feet in surgical spirit every day to overcome the problem.

Despite the issue, the world number 12 was able to play in Stuttgart on Wednesday and was pleased with her performance against Sanders.

“It has been difficult to transition to clay. Last week I was being taught how to slide on clay using a medicine ball,” she said.

“To have come this far in the space of a week I am very happy. It is just about being comfortable with the unstable surface underneath.”

Raducanu faces Germany’s Tamara Korpatsch, a lucky loser in the WTA 500 draw, in the second round.

If Raducanu wins that match she will face Poland’s world number one Iga Swiatek in the quarter-finals.

Swiatek, 20, extended her winning streak to 20 matches – and 26 sets in a row – with a 6-1 6-1 win against German qualifier Eva Lys in her second-round match.

Earlier this month the 2020 French Open champion took over from the recently retired Ashleigh Barty at the top of the WTA rankings.

Swiatek’s last defeat was against Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko in the Dubai second round in February and she has won three consecutive WTA 1000 events in Doha, Indian Wells and Miami since then.