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Emma Raducanu, the top seed at the Abierto AKRON Zapopan, was forced to retire from her first round match against former World No 20 Daria Saville, who outlasted the British No 1 in a physical battle that set the mark for the longest WTA match of the season.
This is probably the first match in a long time when I felt like I was being myself. I was being feisty Dasha. I just want to keep on working and keep on going here. Daria Saville
Raducanu quit after 3 hours and 36 minutes with the score standing at 5-7 7-6(4), 4-3, after having her left thigh strapped and complaining of hip pain.
The 19-year old US Open champion claimed the opening set after a tough 80 minutes by bouncing back from an early break down to break Saville herself in the final game.
The Briton served for the match at 5-3 in the second, but the Australian broke back to force a tiebreak, which she played cleanly to claim the set and level the match.
Both women appeared to be playing through pain in the decider, with Saville battling leg cramps and Raducanu taking an off-court medical time-out.
The World No 12 returned to the court with her upper left leg taped and, clearly hampered in her movement, Raducanu bravely played 2 more games before making the decision to retire when down a break at 4-3.
“This is probably the first match in a long time when I felt like I was being myself,” Saville said after emerging the winner. “I was being feisty Dasha. I just want to keep on working and keep on going here.”
Daria Sabille advanced after Emma Raducanu retired in the longest WTA match of the season in Guadalajara
Prior to Saville’s win, the longest match of 2022 lasted 3 hours 9 minutes and was won by Danka Kovinic over Jang Su-Jeong, 6-3 2-6 6-4, at the Australian Open.
Both players came into Tuesday night’s match in search of match-play, with Saville, who reached a career-high of 20 in 2017, working her way back up the rankings after undergoing surgery on her achilles tendon last year, and Raducanu playing her first match since a hand blister left her hampered in a 3-set loss to Danka Kovinic in the second round of the Australian Open.
Now ranked 610, the 27-year-old Australian was looking to earn her first main draw win at a tour-level event since the 2021 Australian Open.
The match was a gruelling tug-of-war from the get-go, with neither woman able to build enough momentum to hold on to much of a lead.
In the second round, Saville will face American qualifier Caroline Dolehide, who came through a tight battle with China’s Zhu Lin, 4-6 6-3 6-4.
More notable results from Day 2 in Guadalajara, included defending champion and No 3 seed Sara Sorribes Tormo from Spain opening her campaign with a 6-4 6-1 win over American wild-card Katie Volynets in 2 hours 6 minutes, while 4th seed Camila Osorio from Colombia earned her first win of the season, defeating Bulgaria’s Viktoriya Tomova, 6-4 6-3.
Sorribes Tormo takes on Magdalena Frech next, after the Pole took 3 hours 4 minutes to get past Mexican wild-card Renata Zarazua, 7-6(5) 4-6 6-4; while Osorio’s next opponent is American Hailey Baptiste, a 6-3 6-3 winner over Viktoria Kuzmova, a qualifier from Slovakia.
Sara Sorribes Tormo, is the defending champion in Guadalajara, and the No 3 seed