Hannah Klugman was given a first taste of the progress she must make to compete with the world’s elite when she was beaten 6-2, 6-2 by Yulia Putintseva on her WTA main-draw debut at the Nottingham Open.
Klugman, the 16-year-old from Wimbledon who reached the junior final at the French Open earlier this month, was given a wild card to face Putintseva, 30, the fourth seed and world No27 from Kazakhstan, who reached the fourth round of Wimbledon last year.
In her first match of the grass-court season, Klugman showed glimpses of her potential, breaking her opponent’s serve twice in the first set, but was unable to settle on her own serve and lamented the fact that she could not push Putintseva harder, falling to defeat in one hour and nine minutes.
“It was a tough one against a top player, world No27, I’ve never played against someone like that,” Klugman said. “I felt very uncomfortable on my first match on grass, having done a long period on clay, so I struggled today. The crowd was amazing, I enjoyed that, I just wish I could have played better. But it was an amazing opportunity.”
Klugman will be a better player for the experience and, to give an indication of just how early she is in her development, when Emma Raducanu made her WTA-level debut at this tournament in 2021 at the age of 18, losing to Harriet Dart in the first round, she was two years and three months older than Klugman is now. Her exposure against a player of Putintseva’s quality gives her an early indication of the steps she will need to take in the coming seasons.
From an early stage against Putintseva, Klugman struggled to deal with the weight of her opponent’s groundstrokes, often reduced to chipping the ball back from the baseline. She won only one point in her opening service game, setting the tone for a match in which she was broken six times out of seven. She landed only 63 per cent of her first serves and Putintseva returned ruthlessly on her second serve, on which Klugman won only 28 per cent of points.
Yet she enjoyed success on Putintseva’s serve, gradually developing rhythm on her own two-handed backhand, forcing the Kazakh into forehand errors on break points in the third and fifth games. But Putintseva finished the set strongly and carried that momentum into the second set, in which Klugman was unable to earn any break points. “I heard that she was a great junior, but I didn’t know what to expect, so it was a bit tricky,” Putintseva said. “But I like playing on grass and I hope to stay here for a while.”
Down… but not out: Klugman, who reached the final of the junior French Open, showed some nice touches during the defeat on Monday
PA
There will be plenty more opportunities for Klugman, whose talent sprang to wider attention when she won the prestigious Orange Bowl tournament in Florida two years ago, an event won previously by the likes of Coco Gauff and Chris Evert.
She had stepped up her clay-court preparations earlier this year by spending time at Rafael Nadal’s academy in Mallorca and she reaped the rewards with her performances at Roland Garros, where she became the first British player in almost 50 years to reach the junior singles final, losing to Lilli Tagger, the 17-year-old Austrian.
She will now hope to build some form on grass as she adjusts to the pace of play against more experienced and physical opponents. Growing up just down the road from the All England Club, the youngest of four girls, she has been a regular visitor to Wimbledon since her early years. It is too early to say whether she will be in the frame for a wild card for this year’s championships in a fortnight’s time, but she reached the junior doubles final at Wimbledon two years ago with Isabelle Lacy.
Her experience against Putintseva may have been frustrating, but in time Klugman will undoubtedly look back on it as an important step in her quest to compete at the highest level.