Emma Raducanu will reclaim the British No. 1 ranking after winning her first meeting with four-time Grand SLAM champion Naomi Osaka on self-assured fashion.
The collision was fiercely expected, but turned out not to be a match, where Raducanu comfortably achieved a 6-4 6-2 victory to reach the quarterfinals of the Citi Open in Washington.
Talk about Sky Sports, Raducanu said: “I thought it would be a very difficult match. Naomi has won four slams, she is world number one, won Masters.
“She is so dangerous and on the hard courts I think she is particularly comfortable. I knew that I would have to play very well and manage my own service games, which I am really proud of how I did that.
“I struck a bit in her service games after I got used to it a bit. I am really happy with how I dealt with the ball speed and the circumstances here in DC.”
The result means that the 22-year-old Katie Boulter will again catch up to become the best British player because she wants to secure sowing for the US Open of next month.
Raducanu ended Boulter’s two -year -old run at the top of the domestic classification in June, but then slid back to 46 in the world after losing a close struggle with Aryna Sabalenka in the third round of Wimbledon.
Her two victories here can mean that Raducanu returns to the Top 40, and she will certainly pass Boulter after her opening round defeat against Maria Sakkari.
It will be Greek that Raducanu then plays, and she has not dropped a set in three earlier meetings.
From the start, Raducanu was sharp against Osaka, who keeps looking for a way back to the top of the game after the birth of daughter Shai two years ago.
A double error from the Japanese star gave Raducanu the first break in the fifth game and the British player was Rock Solid on serve when she cut off the opening set.
Without a coach in Washington, Raducanu is in the midst of uncertainty about the future of her partnership with Mark Petchey and only put partner Alexis Canter in her corner, but there was no lack of direction in this version.
She was helped with a new break at the start of the second set by more mistakes by Osaka, who created a first chance of the Raducanu-Serveer on 1-2 but could not take it.
The serve of Raducanu has improved considerably under Petchey and was her most important weapon here when she went on to a third quarter -final in Washington with a strong hope to continue.
Cameron Norrie, however, could not match Raducanu, the British number two defeated 7-6 (3) 6-3 by the American 14th Seed Brandon Nakashima.
The hope of Dan Evans on another deep run in Washington two years after he won the title, were also over after he lost 6-2 7-6 (4) to Corentin Moutet in France.
Elsewhere, Venus Williams fell in straight sets to the Poland Magdalena Frech in the second round.
The 45-year-old became the oldest woman who won a singles match at tour level since Martina Navratilova in 2004 after an opening round victory over Peyton Stearns on Tuesday.
Williams took an early 2-1 lead against Frech, but the 27-year-old responded with a dominant series of seven consecutive games on the way to a 6-2 6-2 victory.
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