The Money Saving Expert highlighted the government’s Help to Save scheme and regular saver accounts offering up to 7.1% interest during his BBC podcast

Martin Lewis has discussed a DWP scheme that savers might wish to consider. The consumer expert offered several tips on building savings during an episode of his BBC podcast.

He dedicated a significant portion of the programme to examining mortgage overpayments and whether this strategy is more advantageous than placing money into savings accounts.

One listener asked about what to do with a lump sum of £90,000 that they were about to receive. They were paying a relatively high mortgage rate of 5.6 per cent and asked for advice on how to use the money.

Mr Lewis said his general principle is that if your mortgage rate surpasses the highest after-tax savings rate available, it may be more sensible to overpay your mortgage rather than deposit cash into savings. Responding to the question, Mr Lewis initially stated that “you cannot earn 5.6 percent in savings”.

He pointed out certain savings vehicles where this rate can be exceeded. He mentioned briefly: “With the exception of a Help to Save if you’re on Universal Credit or a regular saver where you can put a couple of hundred quid a month in.”

The Help to Save scheme is worth considering if you’re receiving Universal Credit, as it offers a 50 per cent bonus on deposits. Through the scheme, you receive a 50p bonus for every £1 you deposit into the account over a four-year period, reports the Mirror.

You can contribute between £1 and £50 each month, meaning you can save up to £2,400 over four years, earning up to £1,200 in bonuses. Savers receive their bonuses across two stages, with the first payout arriving after the initial two years, calculated on the highest balance achieved during that period.

The second bonus comes at the conclusion of year four, determined by the highest balance reached in years three and four. When it comes to regular saver accounts, you can get rates of over 7 per cent, but there are restrictions on monthly deposits.

Take Nationwide Building Society’s Flex Regular Saver, for instance, which offers 6.5 per cent but caps monthly contributions at £200. By depositing the maximum amount, savers could pocket £84.50 annually in interest.

Currently, Zopa leads the market with its Regular Saver offering 7.1 per cent, allowing customers to stash away up to £300 monthly. Financial experts are forecasting further cuts to the Bank of England’s base rate this year.

The rate presently stands at 3.75 per cent. The central bank opted to maintain this level in its most recent announcement.

Abdul Kahar, 41, met the girl, 15, on Snapchat and after giving her vodka to the point where she was sick, he proceeded to rape her in his car despite the victim trying to push the predator away, a court heard

A “sexual predator” raped a 15-year-old girl in his car after giving her so much alcohol she was sick twice – and was caught when the victim raised the alarm by calling police “asking for a pizza”.

Abdul Kahar, 41, met the 15-year-old girl on Snapchat and arranged to meet her while posing as a 17-year-old boy called ‘Jay’. The father-of-one, who is also married, picked the girl up in Druid’s Heath, Birmingham after promising her they could “drink and a chill”.

But after forcing the girl to drink vodka, to the point where she was sick twice, Kahar started touching her breasts in the front of the vehicle before taking her to the back where he removed her clothes, Birmingham Crown Court heard.

On a number of occasions the teenager tried to push the defendant away and at one stage “he put his hands around her throat and squeezed so she could not breathe”, Francesca Perera, prosecuting, said.

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The girl, now 16, lived in a children’s home and was in the care of the local authority at the time of the attack, the court heard. It was said Kahar told the victim on Snapchat before they met that she looked pretty, and also asked for naked pictures of her, whether she had ever had sex with anyone else and if she would do anything for him for money.

After the attack the quick-thinking victim duped Kahar into believing she was dialling for a pizza when in fact she called the police control centre as she sat in his vehicle. The girl had seen a video on TikTok where another sexual assault victim had phoned police to send a SOS by ‘ordering a pizza’.

The call-handler asked her ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions to establish exactly what was happening on June 28 last year. When she asked the girl if she was in danger she replied “yeah”. The victim was able to tell police the exact location.

Kahar pleaded guilty to two charges of raping a female under 16, four charges of sexually assaulting a female over 13, non-fatal intentional strangulation and breach of a sexual harm prevention order. He was jailed at Birmingham Crown Court for 15 years and three months on Monday.

Sentencing, Judge Sarah Buckingham said: “At the time of the offences you were 40 while she was 15. You were well over twice her age. You are a sexual predator with a deep seated sexual attraction to young and underage girls. It would have been obvious to you that she was particularly vulnerable and at risk of exploitation so you exploited her and plied her with alcohol.

“When she tried to resist you put your hands around her throat and forced her to stop resisting. You had utterly no regard for her well being despite your claims. This was a prolonged incident and your offending was planned. You are a 41-year-old father of an eight-year-old boy. You should be utterly ashamed of yourself. You have disgraced yourself and brought shame upon your family.”

Ben Hargreaves, defending, said “It is always the family of the defendant who will suffer the most. He has an eight-year-old and a wife who are dumbfounded by his behaviour.”

Detective Constable Lauren Campbell, of West Midlands Police, said: “Kahar posed as a 17-year-old boy on Snapchat and groomed a vulnerable 15-year-old girl online for a period of time before she agreed to meet up with him. He then raped and sexually assaulted her in his car.

“I want to praise the brave actions of the girl and also praise the call handler for having the foresight to understand this was a call for help from someone who was vulnerable and in danger.”

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal authorities have denied attempting to expedite an end to asylum claims by the family of a 5-year-old boy who was detained with his father during the immigration crackdown that has shaken the Minneapolis area.

Images of Liam Conejo Ramos wearing a bunny hat and Spider-Man backpack surrounded by immigration officers stirred outrage over the crackdown.

Danielle Molliver, a lawyer for the boy and his father, told the New York Times that the government was attempting to speed up the deportation proceedings, calling the actions “extraordinary” and possibly “retaliatory.”

The government denied that.

“These are regular removal proceedings. They are not in expedited removal,” Department of Homeland Security official Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement, adding “there is nothing retaliatory about enforcing the nation’s immigration laws.”

Molliver told the Times that an immigration judge, during a closed Friday hearing, gave her additional time to argue the family’s case.

The boy and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, who originally is from Ecuador, were detained in a Minneapolis suburb on Jan. 20. They were taken to a detention facility in Dilley, Texas.

They were released following a judge’s order and returned to Minnesota on Feb. 1.

Neighbors and school officials have accused federal immigration officers of using the preschooler as “bait” by telling him to knock on the door to his house so that his mother would come outside. DHS has called that description of events an “abject lie.” It said the father fled on foot and left the boy in a running vehicle in their driveway.

The government said the boy’s father entered the U.S. illegally from Ecuador in December 2024. The family’s lawyer said he has an asylum claim pending that allows him to stay in the U.S.

Councillor says dirty signs and street furniture “doesn’t give a good impression of this place”

Ards and North Down Borough Council is to look at “basic maintenance” and cleaning of public infrastructure, following a viral social media video showing a local cleaning firm cleaning signage around Bangor for free.

Elected representatives have unanimously agreed to a DUP motion calling for a review of the maintenance of council property and the public realm. The motion passed at committee level and will go to the council’s full council at the the end of the month for ratification, where it is expected to pass.

Councillors are reacting to high profile media reports at the start of the year focusing on individuals from a private cleaning firm who spent the holiday period voluntarily cleaning public signage around Bangor for free after describing the situation as “shameful.”

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The man who conceived the motion, DUP Councillor Alistair Cathcart, said at the February meeting of the council’s Environment committee: “We are calling our council to get back to basics and ensure our towns, cities and villages are looking their best. A dirty footpath, flowerbeds being unkept, street furniture being damaged and not maintained – it doesn’t give a good impression of this place.

“The council is making fantastic progress on the bigger stuff, the regeneration scheme for Bangor and elsewhere are really terrific, but I don’t think there has been enough focus on getting the basics right.”

He said: “The dirty street signs may not sound that important in the grand scheme of things, but they are really noticeable, they irritate people, and give the impression that we just don’t care. That is not the impression I want to give of Bangor, or this borough. But I am spending a lot of time reporting these basic maintenance issues.

“The council are very good in their responses to that, and I am grateful for the hard work they do, but it shouldn’t be dealt with in a reactive manner. There should be policies in place to ensure the basic maintenance of our urban centres is being done.”

He said the matter came to a head for him around Christmas with the “dirty” City Hall sign at Bangor, which went viral on social media.

He said: “It became a symbol of the council not caring, and frankly being so useless that they couldn’t even clean their own sign on their own building. It has been embarrassing for the council. We have a sign policy in place but it clearly wasn’t followed.

“We agreed a proactive maintenance strategy 10 years ago when this council was formed. It is clear this needs to be reviewed, because it is not working as well as it should.

“There are elements that work well, the maintenance strategy for our buildings works quite well, but it is around those things I have mentioned, the signs, the furniture and other public realm is really the concern.”

The council motion states it will commit to a review of its current proactive maintenance and cleansing regimes, “highlighting options and opportunities for improvement and associated budgetary requirements, so as to allow members to consider potential improvements in outcomes.”

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It finally lands on our screens this Thursday

How to Get to Heaven from Belfast finally drops on our screens this week.

The new Netflix series, from Derry Girls creator Lisa McGee, follows three lifelong friends in their late 30s who have remained a tight-knit group since their school days.

Coming to the streaming platform on February 12, the plot is set in motion when the friends receive a mysterious email announcing the death of the estranged fourth member of their childhood gang.

READ MORE: How to Get to Heaven from Belfast ‘shares Derry Girls DNA’ but is something very different, says Lisa McGeeREAD MORE: Everything you need to know about new Netflix series How to Get to Heaven from Belfast

With the news that Belfast City Airport has increased its car parking charges last week, Netflix has shared an exclusive first look at the new show with Belfast Live.

In the snippet, we see Robyn and Dara head to the airport to pick up Saorise and end up parking in the Harland and Wolff yard as Dara complains about the price of parking.

Watch the video below…

Roísín Gallagher stars as Saoirse, Sinéad Keenan and Caoilfhionn Dunne star as Robyn and Dara respectively – the supporting cast features notable talent, including Michelle Fairley, Saoirse-Monica Jackson from Derry Girls and Oscar-winner James Martin.

‘How to Get to Heaven from Belfast’ will premiere on Netflix globally on 12th February

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our What’s On newsletter

In April 2007, the Baltic nation of Estonia woke up to one of the world’s first major cyber-attacks on civil society carried out by a state. A series of massive “distributed denial of service” assaults – floods of fake traffic from networked computers – targeted government websites, banks, media outlets and online services for weeks, slowing or shutting them down.

These cyber-attacks followed Estonia’s decision to relocate a Soviet-era war memorial and war graves from the centre of the capital city, Tallinn, to a military cemetery.

Amplified by false reports in Russian media, this sparked nights of protest and rioting among Russian-speakers in Tallinn – and cyber chaos throughout the country. Though the cyber-attack was never officially sanctioned by the Kremlin, the “faceless perpetrators” were later shown to have Russian connections.

Estonia has since transformed itself, in part through voluntary initiatives such as the Cyber Defence Unit (a network of private-sector IT experts), into a leader in this field. It is home to Nato’s Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence, and ranks fifth in the International Telecommunication Union’s global cybersecurity index – alongside the UK.

But in many ways, Estonia is far ahead of Britain in its cybersecurity planning. A 2025 government review found that nearly one-third of the UK’s public sector IT systems were “critically vulnerable” due to historical underinvestment – with some aspects of the police and NHS at particular risk.

International cyber-attacks on the UK increased by 50% last year. “Nationally significant” incidents rose from 89 to 204 – including, in September 2025, a major ransomware attack on Jaguar Land Rover that halted production for a month, causing losses of around £1.9 billion.

Amid these threats, the UK government recently launched its Cyber Action Plan and held the first ever cross-party international security briefing – co-chaired by the National Cyber Security Centre’s CEO, Richard Horne.

So can this more preemptive approach staunch the flow of cyber-attacks on the UK? In my experience of advising European and Asian governments on cybersecurity matters, the problem is that nothing is ever urgent – until everything is.

Cyber-attacks could shatter public trust

A key worry for British ministers is that an attack on government systems could shatter public trust. Imagine welfare benefits going unpaid, tax returns being ignored and health records frozen amid a major ransomware crisis.

The new plan prioritises central government digital services including tax, benefits, health records and identity verification. Pledging £210 million in additional funding, it promises to address the difficulty of attracting highly paid private-sector engineers, analysts and penetration (“pen”) testers to the public sector. Defence companies, specialist security firms and big tech typically pay 30-50% higher salaries.

While establishing a Government Cyber Unit is welcome, its phased rollout to 2029 feels too leisurely amid the level of threats the UK (and other countries) now face. Groups linked to Russia and China in particular are dramatically increasing the volume and sophistication of cyber-attacks. They combine state resources with criminal ecosystems to exploit the vulnerabilities of years of IT under-investment much faster than most cyber-defences can adapt.

Rapid developments in AI technology are also making the threat more severe – for example, through highly personalised phishing attacks and use of deepfakes. Defenders are struggling to keep up with the scale and constantly changing nature of these threats.

Who leads the way on cyber-defence?

The US is in a league of its own when it comes to cyber-defence. The federal government alone spends an annual US$25 billion (£18 billion) on defending its IT systems, compared with the UK’s £2-2.6 billion.

Australia’s budget – A$6.2 billion (£3.2 billion) – also exceeds the UK’s, despite its much smaller population. It enforces strict rules such as 12-hour critical incident reporting and, most importantly, has prioritised investing in new technologies.

Countries that are ahead of the cybersecurity curve show the same ingredients work: mandatory rapid reporting of incidents, serious investment in AI-powered monitoring, real-time sharing of information between government and private sectors, and strong international partnerships.

What came as a shock to Estonia in 2007 has been hitting European institutions and infrastructure for years now. Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine four years ago, it has woven cyber operations much more closely into its hybrid warfare playbook. In 2022, there were more than 650 documented attacks by pro-Russian groups, of which only 5% targeted Ukraine – the rest focused on Nato and other EU countries.

In contrast, China has tended to prioritise stealthy, long-term espionage, including the UK Ministry of Defence payroll breach in 2024. Iran has focused on aggressive disruption, and North Korea on seizing funds through cyber heists – the most successful of which stole US$1.5 billion in cryptocurrency by hacking into the Bybit crypto exchange.

To keep pace, the UK needs to lean harder into its alliances, including with Nato and the EU. It should insist on compulsory AI-threat training across government and key industries, and show more willingness to expose attackers publicly. A timely but measured response should at least raise the risk (and cost) of the next cyber-attack for its state-sponsored perpetrators.

Thames Valley Police is assessing allegations that Prince Andrew shared confidential reports from his role as UK trade envoy with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein

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The monarch has expressed his “profound concern” regarding allegations surrounding Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s behaviour and has indicated he will “stand ready to support” police enquiries should they require assistance, Buckingham Palace has announced.

Thames Valley Police have confirmed they are evaluating claims that the King’s brother allegedly passed on sensitive documents from his position as Britain’s trade envoy to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The rekindled scandal engulfing both the Royal family and Westminster has displayed few indications of subsiding since American authorities’ recent release of millions of records linked to the paedophile financier Epstein.

A spokesperson for Buckingham Palace stated: “The King has made clear, in words and through unprecedented actions, his profound concern at allegations which continue to come to light in respect of Mr Mountbatten-Windsor’s conduct.

“While the specific claims in question are for Mr Mountbatten-Windsor to address, if we are approached by Thames Valley Police we stand ready to support them as you would expect.”

“As was previously stated, Their Majesties’ thoughts and sympathies have been, and remain with, the victims of any and all forms of abuse.”

To date, the Palace has not been contacted by Thames Valley Police concerning the allegations, which pertain to Andrew’s tenure as Britain’s special representative for international trade and investment. The Prince and Princess of Wales have publicly addressed the Epstein scandal for the first time on Monday, with Kensington Palace confirming they were “deeply concerned” at the “continued revelations” and that their thoughts “remain focused on the victims”.

The revived controversy that has engulfed both the Royal Family and Westminster shows no signs of abating following the recent disclosure by American authorities of extensive documents connected to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Kensington Palace verified that William and Kate have been “deeply concerned” with their attention remaining on those impacted by the scandal. This represents the first time the couple’s stance on the issue has been publicly declared.

The prince is presently en route to Saudi Arabia to commence a three-day solo visit to the Middle Eastern country, with his first day planned alongside Saudi leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Before his departure, a Kensington Palace spokesperson confirmed: “I can confirm that the Prince and Princess of Wales have been deeply concerned by the continued revelations. Their thoughts remain focused on the victims.”

The most recent tranche of documents released by the US department of justice has sparked a wave of allegations against Andrew and prompted authorities to launch an investigation into Lord Peter Mandelson regarding alleged misconduct in public office. Among the allegations are accusations that Epstein facilitated the travel of a second woman to Britain for a sexual encounter with Andrew, and that the Duke and Epstein approached an exotic dancer for a threesome at Epstein’s property in Florida.

The latest claim alleges that Andrew shared sensitive briefings from official trips to Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Singapore during his tenure as the UK’s trade envoy.

One email, sent in November 2010, was forwarded by Andrew just five minutes after receiving it from his then-special adviser, Amir Patel. On Christmas Eve 2010, Andrew copied Epstein into an email containing a confidential briefing about investment prospects related to reconstruction projects in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Graham Smith, chief executive of the anti-monarchy organisation Republic, has confirmed that he reported the allegations to the police.

A Thames Valley Police spokesperson said: “We can confirm receipt of this report and are assessing the information in line with our established procedures.”

In 2022, the late Queen stripped her son Andrew of his honorary military titles. Last year, he gave up his HRH designation following substantial controversy surrounding the civil sexual assault case brought by Virginia Giuffre, who took her own life last year.

Ms Giuffre alleged that she was forced to have sex with Andrew on three separate occasions, claims which he vehemently denies. These instances allegedly included when she was 17 and also during an orgy, after being trafficked by Epstein.

Despite his unwavering assertion that he had never met her, Andrew paid out millions in 2022 to settle the civil sex case with her.

Lt Col Mark Teeton has tearfully told of being “forever in gratitude” to the “heroes” – including his wife Eileen – who came to his aid near Brompton Barracks, Kent.

A brave wife saved her uniformed Army officer husband as he was repeatedly stabbed by an attacker who tried to “cut his head off like Lee Rigby “, a court has heard.

Lt Col Mark Teeton tearfully told of being “forever in gratitude” to the “heroes”, including wife Eileen, who came to his aid near Brompton Barracks, in Chatham, Kent, on July 23 2024. Asked what his attacker was trying to do, he said: “Cut off my head. Like Lee Rigby.”

He told Maidstone Crown Court of his relief of still being alive as knifeman Anthony Esan is set to be sentenced for his attempted murder.

Esan, 25, was due to stand trial for the attack and possession of two bladed weapons this month, but instead pleaded guilty to the crimes in January.

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On the first day of the sentencing, which is expected to last three days, Lt Col Teeton, a serving officer in the British Army for 26 years who has been on two tours in Iraq and two tours in Afghanistan, said the attack has left him “wary” of others approaching him.

Fighting back tears, he went on: “I still relive the incident in my mind; I actually think it is a blessing that I was unconscious for much of it as it means that I am unable to remember a large part of being attacked.

“I don’t think I will truly appreciate the courage shown by my wife and strangers to thwart the attack and then the quick thinking of an array of people that helped save my life. They are all heroes, and I am forever in gratitude to them.”

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Lt Col Teeton said he was told by medical staff it was a “miracle” that he survived the attack having been left with a very large wound to the right side of his neck and further stab wounds to the front and back of his chest, front and back of his abdomen, left side of his lower abdomen, right groin, right upper arm and left thigh.

He added: “I did not imagine for a moment that I would be attacked in such a way on the streets of Britain, in a place where I felt safe.” Mrs Teeton also stared down at Esan in court as she recalled how she rushed to help a solider lying on the ground before realising it was her husband.

“I watched horrified by his continued savage attack, and realised it was my husband on the ground and he was carving at his face and neck,” she said.

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In her victim impact statement, Mrs Teeton said when visiting her husband in hospital, he said: “Do the people at work know what he tried to do to me?” She asked him what did he try to do, and he replied: “Cut my head off! Like Lee Rigby.”

Prosecutor Alison Morgan KC told the court it was a “vicious and deliberate” attack and the prosecution’s case is that Lt Col Teeton, a chief instructor at the British Army’s school of military engineering, was targeted because of his appearance as a solider.

Leading up to the attack, Esan had began online searches including for knives and about a terrorist attack that happened in West Africa, and TikTok videos of knife attacks in other countries.

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On July 16, he also searched “Woolwich soldier murdered” on the internet, which Ms Morgan said was plainly a reference to the attack on Lee Rigby in 2013.

The 25-year-old off-duty soldier had been killed in broad daylight by extremists near the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, south-east London.

Lt Col Teeton was stabbed repeatedly in the street outside his home address, and was dressed in an Army uniform, boots and beret at the time.

He was seen on footage walking home from the barracks at 5.50pm before he then engaged with Esan at 5.53pm. Ms Morgan said he recalled Esan asking him if he could use his phone because his moped had broken down and he needed to call someone to come and help.

“It’s obviously a lie. It’s a lie which gives him the ability to disarm, to disarm by distraction Mr Teeton,” Ms Morgan said. “Mr Teeton said at that point he was concerned the defendant was going to try and steal his mobile phone and he said he would put the defendant’s number into his own telephone. When he went to do that… he was distracted, and that’s when the attack on him began.”

Footage from a car shows the attack in the middle of the road with Esan stabbing Lt Col Teeton, who gets up and walks the other way, and Esan going after him and continuing his attack. Esan used two knives to inflict multiple stab wounds on Lt Col Teeton. Ms Morgan said: “Witnesses who saw it described it as harrowing and one of the worst things they’ve ever seen.”

Esan was born in Nigeria and moved to the UK in 2009 and lived in the Southwark area of London, the court heard. He had made several unsuccessful attempts to join the British Army in the years before his attack, with his first application in 2020.

That same year, he had been referred to mental health services as he appeared to be mentally unwell and reported hearing voices. The court heard that in January 2023, Esan’s mother had contacted an out-of-hours service concerned that he had knives in his bag.

Expert witness in forensic psychiatry Professor Nigel Blackwood said that when he brought knives back to the family home, that Esan “began to entertain murderous fantasies 18 months before he enacted them”.

Experts agree on a diagnosis of schizophrenia for Esan at the time of the attack. Professor Blackwood said: “All the experts agree it is a difficult case, he gives such an impoverished account for his behaviour.”

The sentencing continues.

After calming her nerves with a blast of heavy metal music, Mia Brookes looked down a 50-metre drop and was faced with a choice. Did she try to marginally improve upon two previously solid jumps and have an approximately even chance of nudging herself back into a medal position in the snowboard big air?

Or did she go for broke and attempt to land the first backside 1620 (4½ rather than four rotations) trick in the history of her sport? 

Those who know Brookes were not surprised by her choice and, for a split second, it looked like she had delivered a jump that could challenge for gold let alone bronze. But then it became clear that she had over-rotated and, in just losing control, Britain’s hopes of a first medal of this winter Games had also gone.

The jump was registered as a DNI – meaning that it “did not improve” on her previous two efforts – and Great Britain had to endure a second fourth place of the day after Kirsty Muir had earlier also been edged out of a medal. As chef de mission Eve Muirhead waited at the bottom of the ramp, a delegation of Milan-Cortina organisers passed by with three increasingly elusive Olympic medals.

With the mixed curlers having earlier lost in the semi-final of their competition, the hopeful talk of three medals on a magic Monday in Italy had completely melted away. Agonising Monday instead. It is a considerable early blow to Team GB, whose projections of a record-breaking Winter Olympic medal haul had leaned heavily on the Livigno Snow Park, although it should be stressed that Muir, Brookes and the curlers do all have further podium chances.

Brookes had earlier delivered just exactly what was needed on her first jump; a solid landing following a 1440 trick that saw her complete four complete mid air spins and score 80.85. A single raised arm and then a hug with her waiting parents, Nigel and Vicky, underlined her relief.

It put her fourth after the first run and then, after a similarly sold backside 1260 had taken her to third on the second run with 78.85, she had the platform to attempt something audacious. Yet with snowboarders going in reverse order in the final round, Brookes could only watch as the New Zealander Zoi Sadowksi Synnott delivered an outstanding final score of 83 to nudge her out of the medals.

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.