Despite leaking three double faults, Raducanu’s backhand began looking increasingly dangerous and it became her main weapon to extract errors from the erratic Muchova, who rode her luck with a flurry of net chords after Raducanu forced an opening set tie-break.
Muchova is a player who tends to move forward, but was not allowed that luxury as Raducanu pinned her behind the baseline and let out a gritty cry of “Come on!” after breaking the Czech’s serve to grab a foothold in the match at 4-2.
Following a slew of recent losses since her exit to Iga Swiatek at the Australian Open, Raducanu’s serve had shown notable improvement in her first-round win in Dubai over Greece’s Maria Sakkari, although any hope of building on that solitary victory looked in jeopardy after her shaky and melancholic start.
In a rinse and repeat of earlier, Raducanu valiantly saved five break points as she trailed 4-2 in the second set but Muchova kept turning the screw to grind out a victory.
After going down an early break against her Czech opponent, Raducanu was visibly upset as she walked off court minutes into the contest and appeared to hide behind the umpire’s chair as she wiped tears away from her face.
