Raducanu in surprise Kremlin Cup withdrawal

eMMA RADUCAnU’s stuttering start to life as the US open champion continued last night when she pulled out of next week’s Kremlin Cup in Moscow. The event was meant to be the start of a three-week run of indoor tournaments around europe, rounding off her season. Her next scheduled appearance is now the Transylvania open in the Romanian city of Cluj-napoca, and she suggested yesterday that she would still play there. ‘Unfortunately I’ve had to make a tournament schedule change and won’t be able to play Moscow this year, but I hope to compete in front of the Russian fans next year,’ said Raducanu (below) in a statement. ‘I look forward to returning to the tour in the next couple of weeks.’ This was always going to be a difficult period of adjustment after Flushing Meadows and there appears to be confusion within the Raducanu camp. even the manner of her withdrawal last night was somewhat messy, with no official announcement initially made and the news leaking out on social media via eagle-eyed observers who spotted her name had been removed from the Moscow entry list. not much has gone right since the curious decision not to continue with coach Andrew Richardson, who guided her to the new York triumph. She has yet to find a replacement and travelled to Indian Wells — where she lost in straight sets to Aliaksandra Sasnovich — without physio Will Herbert, who had also been working with her.