Emma Raducanu apologises to Roland Garros crowd for delaying arrival of French star

Emma Raducanu came through a thrilling first-round encounter against Linda Noskova at the French Open, but the crowd were less than impressed by how long the match took to finish. 

The Brit recovered from a set and a break down against the Czech teenager to win 6-7 7-5 6-1 in two hours, 37 minutes. 

Throughout the past year, Raducanu has often fallen short against the greater experience of her opponents, however, this time it was different. 

Noskova is just 17 years old and the youngest player to ever qualify for the French Open main draw. Having won last year’s juniors competition at Roland Garros, she is an extremely talented player, as Raducanu found out. 

Indeed, it was the Czech who took control of the match early on –– growing in confidence with every game and eventually claiming the first set in a tiebreak. At the start of the second set, the teenager almost ran away with the match, breaking Raducanu’s serve, as she looked to seal a historic victory. 

But the US Open champion rallied and demonstrated some impressive mental toughness, which has been lacking at times this season. 

After snatching the second set with an exquisite drop shot, the Brit took control of the decider and swiftly sealed her place in round two. 

While the crowd were treated to a thrilling match, they were nonetheless antagonised by how long the contest took to complete. 

With French star and home-crowd favourite Benoit Paire scheduled to play Ilya Ivashka after the completion of Raducanu’s match, the majority of those watching on Court Simonne-Mathieu were keen for the tie to wrap up as quickly as possible. 

When Noskova appeared close to victory in the second set, the crowd attempted to rally the Czech youngster, yet when Raducanu fought her