Number two seed Emma Raducanu has withdrawn from the Nottingham Open after retiring less than an hour into her first round match against Viktorija Golubic after struggling with an injury to her left side.

The 19-year-old Brit who famously won the 2021 US Open to become the first female UK grand slam winner since Virginia Wade in 1977, was hoping to shine at the Nottingham Tennis Centre this week in her first match on home soil since winning in America, but was instead forced to concede her opening match of the competition with the score at 3-4 in the first set, despite on field treatment and taking a number of painkillers during the match to nullify her irritating agony.

The third mid-game retirement since Raducanu won the US open allows Swiss star Golubic to reach the round of sixteen where another Brit in Heather Watson awaits in a match likely to be played on Wednesday with a place up for grabs in the competition quarter finals.

So far, number one seed Maria Sakkari of Greece has also qualified for the last sixteen and she’ll face Rebecca Marino of Canada whilst Camila Giorgi of Italy, the number three seed in the competition, will play Harriet Dart, the 25-year-old from London who beat Donna Vekic of Croatia on Monday.

The competition which started yesterday, concludes at the weekend with the women’s singles final classified as a top ranking WTA 250 tournament and the men’s event in its 26th edition, an ATP challenger tour event which includes GB’s Dan Evans, Czech star Jiri Vesely and Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, amongst others.

*Main image @the_LTA Emma Raducanu sadly won’t be participating in the latter stages of this years Nottingham Open due to injury.