Emma Raducanu match cancelled as tennis star pulls out hours before and replacement named

Emma Raducanu was meant to face Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Monday, but that match has been cancelled, with a new opponent lined up

Emma Raducanu's proposed Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships Round of 64 tie against Elisabetta Cocciaretto has been cancelled after the Italian withdrew due to a thigh injury. The Brit's opponent pulled out from the match just hours before it was due to start, throwing the schedule into chaos.

Raducanu, 23, was scheduled to go up against world No.56 Cocciaretto on Monday, but the match has since been called off, with the British tennis star instead facing a new opponent.

Indeed, it has been confirmed that Antonia Ruzic, who lost to Rebecca Sramkova in the semi-final of the qualification event last Friday, has been drafted in at the last minute to be Raducanu's opponent.

Ruzic, ranked 67th in the world, is going through a difficult run of form, with the Serbian losing each of her last five matches. Her most recent win came at the Hobart International in mid-January.

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Raducanu, meanwhile, is looking to bounce back after retiring from her Qatar Open last 64 match against Camila Osorio last Monday. The world No.25, who had won the first set 6-2 before losing the second 6-4, called the trainer out to have her blood pressure taken after being broken at the start of the third set.

Two days earlier, Raducanu had featured in her first final since winning the US Open in 2021, but she was beaten 6-0, 6-2 by Romanian Sorana Cirstea at the Transylvania Open. The Toronto-born sensation enjoyed an inspirational run to the final in Cluj, beating Greet Minnen, Kaja Juvan, Maja Chwalinska and Oleksandra Oliynykova en route.

But world No.32 Cirstea proved to be too much for Raducanu, who was well beaten in little more than an hour.

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"I've already been battling a bit of a chest infection, but that [semi-final] match took it out of me extra," Raducanu told BBC Sport after her defeat to Cirstea. "So today, I was pretty gassed from the start. But I would much rather have this situation than have lost that match and not played today and be a part of the final.

"So for me, zero complaints."

"Today I didn't feel so good on the court, so that was a little bit disappointing for my first final after so long," Raducanu, who won the US Open in 2021, added. But I also have to say, Sorana played an incredible match from the start and put so much pressure on me."

Following her disappointment in Qatar last week, Raducanu is no doubt going to be hoping for another positive run in Dubai, starting with her first-round tie against Ruzic at expected to be played no earlier than 11.10am UK time on Monday.

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