WUHAN:Emma Raducanu had her blood pressure and other vitals checked before retiring from her Wuhan Open first-round match with dizziness when down 6-1, 4-1 to American Ann Li on Tuesday.
The British world number 30 appeared to be struggling with the conditions as temperatures soared to 30 C, forcing tournament organizers to apply the heat rule in the first two days of competition.
Raducanu broke in the opening game of the match but immediately lost her advantage and would not win another game in a 28-minute first set.
The 2021 US Open champion received medical attention five games into the second set.
She made the call to retire, sending Li into a second-round meeting with ninth-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova.
The heat rule allows players to take a 10-minute break between the second and third sets, and means the tournament can partially or fully close the roof to protect players from the heat.
In the Raducanu-Li match the roof was partially closed.
Earlier, four-time major champion Naomi Osaka claimed her first-ever victory at the Wuhan Open with a hard-fought 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory over Canada’s Leylah Fernandez.
In a tense two-hour 30-minute affair, the 11th-seeded Osaka fired 41 winners and 56 unforced errors.
Osaka, who is playing in Wuhan for the first time since 2017, awaits in-form Linda Noskova or Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva in the second round.
“Mentally it was just really tough for me today,” said Osaka. “And I think it’s a part of the season that’s just tough. But I think I’m, like, really happy to have gotten through it, and I think it’ll be easier from now on.”
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Raducanu retires from opening match in Wuhan heat with dizziness
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Raducanu retires from opening match in Wuhan heat with dizziness
- Emma Raducanu had her blood pressure and other vitals checked before retiring from her Wuhan Open first-round match with dizziness when down 6-1, 4-1 to American Ann Li on Tuesday
Formula 1 champion Norris hungry for more glory
- The McLaren driver said that claiming the drivers’ crown had not changed his work ethic or his desire to be regarded a “hunter” rather than “the hunted“
MELBOURNE: Lando Norris said on Thursday that winning his first Formula One championship had only made him hungry for more as he gears up to launch his title defense at the Australian Grand Prix.
The McLaren driver said that claiming the drivers’ crown had not changed his work ethic or his desire to be regarded a “hunter” rather than “the hunted.”
“I’ve probably done the most training and things during the course of the off-season than I’ve ever done,” the Briton told reporters at Albert Park.
“So it’s certainly not the case that I was relaxing more or partying more or whatever it might have been. It was quite the opposite, in fact.
“No, I’m still just as hungry. I think it made me want it more, in a way, because you get that feeling.
“The same as when you have one win, you want another one in a race.
“For me, it was the same feeling as a championship; that one is amazing, but then you definitely want to achieve two.”
Norris won last year’s race from pole after arriving in Melbourne raving about the car’s performance during winter testing.
The constructors champions are less bullish about the MCL40 car’s off-season performance this year, with team boss Andrea Stella saying they were a step behind Ferrari and Mercedes.
Norris’s teammate Oscar Piastri, who led last year’s championship before finishing third, was similarly reserved about their early-season prospects, saying on Wednesday they should not be considered favorites to win in Melbourne.
Norris was more upbeat.
“Even if you’re second, third, or fourth quickest, I don’t think that’s on the back foot,” he said.
“I think that’s still a very good position to start in. And I think in previous years where it’s been harder to improve over the course of a season, we’ve certainly proved that you could.”
This year’s championship has plenty of unknowns due to F1’s major overhaul to chassis and engine regulations.
Ferrari’s seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton said drivers faced their most challenging season ever as they grappled with the power management demands of the more electrified engines.
Norris said he was still adapting to the changes and would probably continue to well into the season.
“(It will) probably (be) at least a third of the way through this year until we drive different tracks, different tires, different tarmacs, different weather conditions until I can get close to that level of accuracy that I was requiring last year,” he said.
The McLaren driver said that claiming the drivers’ crown had not changed his work ethic or his desire to be regarded a “hunter” rather than “the hunted.”
“I’ve probably done the most training and things during the course of the off-season than I’ve ever done,” the Briton told reporters at Albert Park.
“So it’s certainly not the case that I was relaxing more or partying more or whatever it might have been. It was quite the opposite, in fact.
“No, I’m still just as hungry. I think it made me want it more, in a way, because you get that feeling.
“The same as when you have one win, you want another one in a race.
“For me, it was the same feeling as a championship; that one is amazing, but then you definitely want to achieve two.”
Norris won last year’s race from pole after arriving in Melbourne raving about the car’s performance during winter testing.
The constructors champions are less bullish about the MCL40 car’s off-season performance this year, with team boss Andrea Stella saying they were a step behind Ferrari and Mercedes.
Norris’s teammate Oscar Piastri, who led last year’s championship before finishing third, was similarly reserved about their early-season prospects, saying on Wednesday they should not be considered favorites to win in Melbourne.
Norris was more upbeat.
“Even if you’re second, third, or fourth quickest, I don’t think that’s on the back foot,” he said.
“I think that’s still a very good position to start in. And I think in previous years where it’s been harder to improve over the course of a season, we’ve certainly proved that you could.”
This year’s championship has plenty of unknowns due to F1’s major overhaul to chassis and engine regulations.
Ferrari’s seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton said drivers faced their most challenging season ever as they grappled with the power management demands of the more electrified engines.
Norris said he was still adapting to the changes and would probably continue to well into the season.
“(It will) probably (be) at least a third of the way through this year until we drive different tracks, different tires, different tarmacs, different weather conditions until I can get close to that level of accuracy that I was requiring last year,” he said.
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