Emma Raducanu retires from Qatar Open after having on-court blood-pressure test

In a scenario that some will find frustratingly familiar, Emma Raducanu retired from her opening match in Doha after having her blood pressure checked by the doctor.

It was a surprise, in some ways, that Raducanu even took the court for this meeting with qualifier Camila Osorio. She had looked thoroughly exhausted while playing the final – her first in five years – in Cluj-Napoca on Saturday, and was then only able to take one day off between events.

Although Raducanu played some solid percentage tennis to claim the opening set – the first set she has ever won in three visits to Doha – her energy levels seemed to fall away as Osorio broke her serve midway through the second and then hung on to set up a decider.

Few would have backed Raducanu to come through a test of stamina, and indeed she dropped serve again immediately before being visited by the doctor. Although she returned to the court for one last Osorio service game, she was barely moving as a series of serves zipped past her, and then walked to the net to shake hands with the world No 80, with the scoreboard reading 2-6, 6-4, 2-0 in Osorio’s favour.

There is a second WTA 1000 event in the Middle East starting next week, in Dubai, so Raducanu presumably decided that she might as well get in position for that one, even if her prospects of a deep run in Doha were limited. On the upside, she has few rankings points to defend until Miami in mid-March, so she virtually has a free swing at the next couple of tournaments.

Raducanu’s ability to withstand the physical demands of week-to-week tennis remains a significant issue, and one that she has yet to find a solution to. Although she began last season with the highly rated fitness trainer Yutaka Nakamura in her corner, he stepped away in the middle of the year. Her latest hire – physio-cum-fitness trainer Emma Stewart, who used to work for British Rowing – has not attended her two events since the Australian Open, but was reported to be arriving in Doha on Monday night, shortly after Raducanu’s exit.

As for the coaching vacancy left by the recent departure of Francis Roig, Raducanu’s hitting partner Alexis Canter appears to be filling in for the moment, although she has not yet made any comment about whether this arrangement will last through the next few hard-court tournaments: initially Dubai and then the so-called “sunshine double” of Indian Wells and Miami in the US.

Meanwhile, British No 2 Cameron Norrie continued his encouraging start to the season by defeating the Spanish veteran Roberto Bautista Agut in Rotterdam. After snatching a long and draining first set, Norrie was then able to surge to a 7-6, 6-1 victory over the 37-year-old Bautista Agut. He will play Australia’s Christian O’Connell in the second round.