Raducanu suffers injury scare in Strasbourg loss

Emma Raducanu suffered an injury scare just four days before the French Open begins as the Briton lost to Danielle Collins in Strasbourg.

The 22-year-old produced an excellent first set but needed treatment on a lower back issue after falling 5-0 behind in the second.

Seemingly uninhibited by the problem on her return, Raducanu came back from a break down in the decider - but Collins rallied again to win 4-6 6-1 6-3 and reach the quarter-finals.

Raducanu had taken a wildcard into the clay-court event in Strasbourg to get more practice on the surface before the French Open starts on Sunday.

Despite the off-court medical timeout there appeared to be no obvious signs of discomfort for Raducanu, who put Collins under sustained pressure before the American pulled away.

Collins, a former Australian Open runner-up who beat Roland Garros champion Iga Swiatek in Italy last week, plays American top seed Jessica Pegula or Russian world number 30 Anna Kalinskaya in the last eight.

Raducanu said she was building a relationship with clay courts after her impressive opening win over Daria Kastakina on Monday.

Victory over world number 17 Kasatkina came after Raducanu's run to the Italian Open fourth round, where she won three consecutive clay-court matches for the first time in her career.

Raducanu was rewarded for a solid start against Collins, breaking early for a 3-2 lead, with the American cutting an increasingly frustrated figure in response to her opponent's consistency.

The Briton won eight points in a row on her way to serving out the set and joked with her team as she took to her chair, having made just six unforced errors in the first 10 games.

But momentum swung dramatically in set two as Collins broke serve twice without reply and Raducanu surpassed her first-set error count in the fourth game.

Raducanu called for the physio shortly before falling 5-0 behind and, after a brief discussion, left the court.

To the relief of her team she appeared to move freely once the match resumed and ended the run of games against her - but Collins would not be denied a deciding set.

Raducanu applied significant pressure, failing to take her first eight break points before converting her ninth to force the set back on serve at 3-3.

But the former US Open champion was outlasted in the closing stages and was twice broken to love as Collins completed the turnaround after two hours and 20 minutes.

Spanish third seed Paula Badosa and Russian Liudmila Samsonova are 2024 runner-up Collins' potential semi-final opponents in Strasbourg.

The other quarter-finals see American second seed Emma Navarro face Brazil's Beatriz Haddad Maia, and Kazakh fourth seed Elena Rybakina play Poland's Magda Linette.