On a sizzling Saturday in Mason, Ohio, Emma Raducanu in the 3rd round of the WTA 1000 Cincinnati opened with a handy 6-3 6-2 victory over Olga Danilovic from Serbia, the 24-year-old World No 43 that has been ranged under the British No 1.
I think the way I play, the movements of my shot, improve the quality of my shot. There were four or five points that I did something that we worked on, and it is always really satisfying and rewarding when you hit a shot, and you worked on it in practice. So I think I’m going to improve a lot, hopefully the work day in day out. Emma Raducanu
Danilovic zag eruit alsof ze Raducanu-problemen zou kunnen veroorzaken toen ze Katie Boulter uit de strijd stuiterde, de eerste set in een 1e ronde-wedstrijd op donderdag insloeg, maar uiteindelijk liet de 22-jarige Raducanu het gemakkelijk uitzien, en het omzetten van 5 van haar 8 breekpunten en een indrukwekkende 73% van haar tweede service achter haar, terwijl ook efficiënt achter haar kwam met 70%.
Playing her first game under the guidance of the new coach Francis Roig, who worked with Rafael Nadal from 2005 to 2022, saw Raducanu, sown no. 30, self -confident, despite dropping her opening to love.
“I’m really building some momentum,” said Raducanu. “I am really happy with how I have remained quite consistent in recent months.
“I still have the feeling that there is still a long way to go, but just work hard behind the scenes, put a lot of hours in it and hope that I can trust that.”
After 4 breaks between the two in the first 6 games, Raducanu held up and came from 0-30 to take another for a 5-3 lead, with 7 points in a row won to bring 3 set points up before the first set was picked with an ace.
Emma Raducanu only works a little less than a week with her new coach Francisco Roig and believes that she is already taking positive steps with her game
© Matthew Stockman/Getty images
Danilovic took a usual and long -term comfort break between sets, before he had to take the first match of the second, but again, Raducanu responded and the entire game could have run very well in the epic 3rd game, which Danilovic took after 6 deers.
However, Raducanu found renewed reserves of skill and power, won the next game without giving a point at 2-2, by now attracting more and more mistakes from her Serbian opponent, and she eventually earned the break for 3-2, after which she did not drop another match, take a nice victory in an hour and 20 minutes.
Now 19-4 against players who have been arranged lower than themselves in the past year, Raducanu sees match-tough for the US Open, where she won the title as famous as a qualification in 2021 without dropping a set.
“You always feel a little nerves for the first round, but I think that I generally approach everything in much quieter way, more mature, and I think I trust that I do much more at work that I do behind the scenes,” she said afterwards. “I know I spend a lot of hours in it, and it costs part of the pressure of the results.”
The 22-year-old, however, is then confronted with a tough task when in the 3rd round in the 3rd round is confronted with the world NR.
On Saturday at the Champions Court, Raducanu received verbally tactical advice from Roig, who was on the sidelines in her players’ box.
The 57-year-old Spaniard arrived in Ohio on Monday evening, after he had worked briefly with Raducanu in London, and although their partnership is still less than a week old, she believes that Roig has already had a positive impact on her game.
“I think the way I play, the movements of my shot, improving the quality of my shot,” she said. “There were four or five points that I did something we worked on, and it is always really satisfying and rewarding when you hit a shot, and you have worked on it in practice. So I think I will improve a lot, hopefully the working day in, day out.”
When they first met, Raducanu and Roig found that their most important focus should be on improving the general level of the Brit.
“It’s just that the level must be better,” she said. “In a good way, not in a negative way. It just calls what it is like, and I am so bad. I am very, a bit, factual, and I do not necessarily like to stick what to stick.
“I think we can get through very well, and we understand each other. In general, everything is like:” We have to improve. We have to make every recording better “. And that is exciting, because I have the feeling that there is a lot of potential to go, and I don’t think I’m close by.”
Olga Danilovic started strong, but was gradually worn out on Saturday by Emma Raducanu in Cincy
© Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty images
In her only other earlier performance in Cincy a few years ago she dismantled Serena Williams in the last month of the American career and then Victoria Azarenka in successive competitions, which shows that the faster courts suit her well here.
On this occasion, however, she also had to fight with the temperature on the field up to 30 ° C and considerable humidity, and she opened the game badly with 3 loose non-forced errors and a double mistakes, to drop her opening to love.
Constant aggression of the left -handed Danilovic, who has a large Serve and Forehand, saw the Serbian dictating the early exchanges, forcing Raducanu to scrap behind the basic line, to chase balls while trying to generate casual mistakes from her opponent.
For a large part of the first set, the Brit, but her service returned to the song from the start, and Danilovic denied the short balls that she longed for behind her first service.
Raducanu also defended well, patiently looking for openings to take the ball early and attack, which gradually started the patience and rhythm of Danilovic, and the error of the Serbian began to rise.
After struggling with her serve early, Raducanu grew gradually in confidence when she started dominating from behind the basic line, so that a composite, efficient version was ended by beating the ball early and Danilovic’s now puts the licked movement under constant pressure while entering the 3rd-round.
Raducanu dropped 6 places to No. 39 in the WTA ranking open after the Canadian open, but she has now made a projected 5-place jump in the live rankings to no. 34, so that it is about to be sown on the US Open where the top 32 players are protected in the main trek.
The Cincinnati Open is the cut event for the US Open Seedings, which is bad news for Raducanu, because in the last 32 she is facing defending champion Sabalenka, unless it can pull up.
A year after missing most of the North American swing, including Cincy, before her 1st round loss at Flushing Meadows, Raducanu is this time in a very different position, with her run on the hard courts that start with two positive shows, which won the semi-final of the WTA 500 event last week.
World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka played her first game since Wimbledon and defeated Marketa Vondrousova in 2 tight sets to set up a meeting with Emma Raducanu on Monday
© Dylan Buell/Getty images
Now Raducanu has another chance to test its level against one of the world’s best, Sabalenka, who kept a strict challenge from Marketa Vondrousova, 7-5 6-1, in the cooler night session on Saturday.
Vondrousova, a former champion Wimbledon, gave Sabalenka everything she can handle in the first set, with the top seed of 6 breaking points, compared to only 1 for the Czech.
That only breaking point came at the target and Sabalenka let it count and stealed the first set after the left -handed person could not convert any of her own chances.
“It’s always a tough match against her,” said Sabalenka after the game. ‘[Vondrousova] Always pushes me to the limit. You have to stay focused and you have to fight her for every point. ‘
Vondrousova forced 6 breakpoints, while Sabalenka created only 2, but De Wit -Russia saved them all and converted both chances on their way to a 5th career win in 8 games against the Czech.
In total, Sabalenka was opposite and saved 12 breaking points in the game before gaining the victory after an hour and 33 minutes of play.
Sabalenka has not played since Wimbledon and now sets another challenge in her next game against an in-shape Raducanu, the two played for the last time in the last 32 at the championships, which won the World No 1, 7-6 (6) 6-4.
The 3-way Grand Slam winner also won their only other meeting on the Indian Wells Open 2024, where she defeated the Brit, 7-3 7-5.
When they meet on Monday, this will be the 3rd game between them, and Raducanu will not only find her first victory, but she will also want to win a set against Sabalenka for the first time.
Earlier on day 3, Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek continued her excellent shape by relaxing the 3rd round with a composed version, resulting in a 6-1 6-4 victory over Anastasia Potapova from Russia from Russia, while the Australian open champion Lys 2-6-points were redeemed, 1-6-0-0-0-0-0-) points (1) had.
Tony-Wagner-Photography/Cincinnatiopen.com
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