Emma Raducanu's coach left baffled after Brit handed item that 'should be confiscated'

appeared to confuse her part-time coach, Mark Petchey, during Wednesday's defeat to at the Strasbourg Open. Raducanu went three sets with the American but came out on the losing side in her last match before the .

The Brit saw off sixth seed Daria Kasatkina in straight sets in the first round, but was given a tough assignment against former finalist Collins in the second. Raducanu took the first set before the match swung decisively in her opponent's favour, as Collins stormed the final two sets to prevail 4-6 6-1 6-3 and book her spot in the quarter-finals.

Early in the first set, when things were ticking along nicely for Raducanu, she was seen handing over a bottle to a baffled-looking Petchey. Sky Sports Tennis commentator Peter Odgers put the confusing exchange down to sponsorship rules which could have landed Raducanu in hot water.

"Right at the start of the match she gave a bottle of liquid to Mark Petchey," Odgers explained. "There was a perplexed look on his face because it didn't have the right logo on.

"Of course, sponsorship is so key at tournaments all around the world. You can understand the ruling being there. I don't know whether or not Raducanu felt that because there wasn't any sponsor on her own bottle, perhaps it should have been confiscated."

Raducanu, who won the US Open in 2021 but has not been beyond the fourth round of a Grand Slam since, has been drawn against Xinyu Wang in the first round at Roland-Garros. And it should be a good match on paper, with world No. 42 Wang ranked just one place above Raducanu by the WTA.

Fans of the Brit will be keeping their fingers crossed that a back issue she picked up in Strasbourg will not affect her prospects of a deep run in Paris.

"I felt it after the first round and then I just tried to manage it," said Raducanu. "I got treatment but, I mean I was pretty stiff and sore [against Collins].

"I've had bad back problems before, at the start of the year I was out for a few months because of it. Yeah, it's annoying, it's frustrating. I get these spasms and they're quite intense and can last quite a long time. I'll just try to make it better."