Emma Raducanu has been knocked out of the Wuhan Open, retiring at 4-1 down in the second set, having lost the first set 6-1.
The Great Britain performer struggled with the conditions, and after getting her blood pressure checked during the second set, she opted to call it quits.
It will be interesting to see if Raducanu plays again this year after this exit, with Li now progressing to round two at the expense of Raducanu.
After some solid matches at the China Open last week, this does come as a blow for Raducanu, with a rematch with Jessica Pegula originally on the cards when the draw was made in Wuhan.
Li, the world number 44, is the one who has now progressed in the tournament, and after the match, she had some very kind words for Raducanu.
Ann Li reacts as Emma Raducanu retires from Wuhan Open
Li has had some decent battles with Raducanu previously, and on this occasion, it was the United States performer who managed to get over the line.
Raducanu has been praised for her form of late and it’s a shame that she couldn’t get the chance to progress further at another tournament this week.
Pegula said she got lucky against Raducanu last week when beating the former US Open champion, and after this latest defeat, Li has heaped praise on her opponent.
She said in her on-court interview: “First, I want to wish Emma the best. It looked like she was not feeling good.
“We had a tough match last time, so I knew it would be tough.
“Hopefully, she feels better. But I am happy with my performance, I was able to stay solid pretty much the entire match.”
What Annabel Croft noticed about Emma Raducanu at the Wuhan Open
It’s been tough to watch the players struggle with the heat at the Wuhan Open and for the ATP players, a number of them have struggled in Shanghai.
Raducanu looked to be pretty abject from the off, and given how badly she struggled, it was clear that she was struggling with the soaring temperatures and the sheer humidity.
Croft delivered her verdict on Raducanu on Sky Sports Tennis and shared what she noticed about the Great Britain performer during the match.
She said: “That is a great shame. Something was not quite right. I think we saw that from very early on in this match. Take nothing away from the way Li played though. She served extremely well and really struck the ball with authority.
“She pushed the ball into open space and into the corners constantly. She defended when she had to and hung in there in some of those longer rallies. There weren’t too many of them, but I think she definitely played a good match from her perspective, up against a below-par Raducanu.
“I admire her attitude sometimes, when you know there is something not quite right down the other end, it is easy to get distracted and lose your way with a match like that, but she didn’t, she really hung tough and was gritty.
“It was interesting to see those subtle changes in her own game, where she took pace off her own serve or went for it.”
What Rick Macci said about Ann Li
This match was all about Li and the player could only essentially beat what was placed in front of her on the day.
Despite Raducanu’s best efforts, she couldn’t really perform as people know she can, and ultimately, it’s Li who gets through to the next round.
Macci is a huge fan of Li’s, it would seem and the former coach of Serena Williams has taken to social media in the aftermath to speak about the player.
He said: “Ann li as a kid was a great athlete and an unreal student. She had big-time potential, but it would be a process. Parents were locked in and looked at the bigger picture. They wanted the ATP FOREHAND/ BACKHAND off both wings and imagination with the chip and drop. Every day we just hammered the muscle memory with ATP technique. Top ten now on the horizon.”
Now, after beating Raducanu, she will believe that bigger wins are on the horizon and at 25, there is still time for the player to start making more of an impact on the tour.
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