Emma Raducanu is edged out by world No 2 Ons Jabeur in her first appearance since October due to injury; earlier in the day it was reported the Brit had hired Sebastian Sachs as her new coach
Friday 16 December 2022 18:50, UK
Emma Raducanu made an encouraging return from a wrist injury as she pushed world No 2 Ons Jabeur close in the Mubadala exhibition event in Abu Dhabi.
The 20-year-old recovered from a break down to take the first set but dropped the second and fell in a deciding tie-break 5-7 6-3 10-8.
Raducanu was making her first appearance since she had ended her season in early October due to a wrist injury.
Trailing 5-3 in the first set, she reeled off four games in a row to take the opener against the defending champion.
Jabeur responded by breaking Raducanu in the sixth game of the second set and held that advantage to level in 36 minutes and force the tie-break decider.
Again Raducanu held the initiative at 8-6 but Jabeur hit back to take the last four points and retain her title.
Nevertheless, it was a positive display from Raducanu who will continue her preparations for next month's Australian Open in Melbourne.
"Yeah I'm rather pleased," Raducanu said. "I had to cut my season short because of a wrist injury so I've just been building in the gym, started getting back on court recently in last two weeks, so happy to be making some progressions and looking forward to 2023."
Earlier in the day, it was reported that Raducanu is set to appoint Sebastian Sachs as her fifth coach in the last 18 months in view of further progress in her development in 2023 after being hindered by injury during her first full year on the WTA Tour.
Sachs guided Belinda Bencic to Olympic gold last year having also worked with Victoria Azarenka and Germany's Julia Goerges in the past.
He was notably in Bencic's corner when the Swiss was beaten by Raducanu in the quarter-finals of the Brit's triumphant US Open debut in 2021.
