Emma Raducanu proved no match for Marketa Vondrousova in the first round of the Abu Dhabi Open.
Raducanu made the third round at the Australian Open last month, but has been unable to carry that form into her subsequent tournaments.
The 2021 US Open champion crashed out of the Singapore Tennis Open in the first round, and has now followed suit in Abu Dhabi, with Wimbledon 2023 champion Vondrousova breezing to a 6-3 6-4 victory in just over 90 minutes.
Raducanu broke first in the opening set, but then immediately failed to hold her serve twice in succession.
The Brit served to stay in the match at the end of the second set, but after clawing back two match points, a brilliant Vondrousova forehand proved unreturnable.
There were wins for Belinda Bencic, Australian Open semi-finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Magda Linette, Linda Noskova and Leylah Fernandez in Tuesday's earlier matches.
Marketa moves @VondrousovaM defeats Raducanu in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 and will face Putintseva in the next round! #MubadalaAbuDhabiOpen pic.twitter.com/CytBTZ5hUb
— wta (@WTA) February 4, 2025
Data Debrief: Good omens for Vondrousova
Playing just her second match of 2025 after returning from injury, Vondrousova has now improved to a 2-1 record over Raducanu.
The Czech used her serve well, striking four aces to Raducanu's zero, though she did commit nine double faults.
Next up will be fourth seed Yulia Putintseva. Vondrousova has won all three of her previous meetings with the Kazakh.