Emma Raducanu is in US Open winning form – and will need to be if she is to beat Aryna Sabalenka.
Raducanu, 22, beat 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova 6-3, 6-3 on Wednesday night to reach the third round, where she will find herself up against world No 1 Sabalenka.
“I’m just so happy I get to play another match here,” Raducanu said.
“[Sabalenka] is number one in the world, so dominant, has won literally everything. I’m just so happy how I performed. I guess there’s no pressure at all on me.”
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But once the British No 1 has spent the evening enjoying her second straight-sets win of the tournament, Raducanu will start to think about how she can overcome the Belarusian’s intimidating power game.
“That was the best I’ve seen her play since the US Open,” said former world No 1 Tracy Austin, analysing for the BBC.
“That was spectacular tennis. The serving was awesome, really picking on the Vondrousova forehand. She really used that backhand down the line beautifully, throwing in some backhand slices, and the return of serve was phenomenal.
“I would say she has a chance to beat Sabalenka if Emma plays that way. Sabalenka has one of the biggest serves in women’s tennis.
“But the way she was returning today, if she can maintain that length, she can rush Sababalenka. There are a lot of parts of Emma’s game that can bother Sabalenka.”
Vondrousova herself complimented Raducanu’s return game, and although the Czech cannot be held in the same category as Sabalenka, she does possess easy power that her opponent did well to return with interest.
In the first set alone, she won 12 out of 21 points where she was “in defence” at a rate of 57 per cent; the average for the tournament is only 34.
That was never more on show than when Raducanu drew first blood, breaking for a 4-2 lead in the opening set with a backhand pass that instantaneously turned defence into attack.
Raducanu (far end) looked to have lost the point at this stage (Screengrab: BBC)According to the Wimbledon stats gurus at IBM, she had just a five per cent chance of winning point from that position.
But better, according to Raducanu, was to come.
‘The crowd were loving it!’
Deep into the second set, Vondrousova was trying to close out a service game to stay within one of Raducanu.
She gained control of the point with a powerful forehand down the line that Raducanu could only hit straight up in the air while on the run.
Emma Raducanu (near end) won this point (Screengrab: BBC)Landing only just over the net, Vondrousova smashed it into the corner, only the Brit to fire it up again full stretch, this time landing almost on the baseline.
Vondrousova could only produce a short forehand and Raducanu stepped in to fire one of her 18 winners into the open court.
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“I think is probably the best point I’ve ever played, so that was pretty crazy. The crowd were loving it,” Raducanu said afterwards.
“That’s something that I’ve developed in the last few months. My ability to kind of use the slice and stay in points for longer.”
Raducanu does not possess the easy power of top-10 players like Sabalenka, Coco Gauff, Mirra Andreeva and Madison Keys, but is still determined not to be pigeon-holed as a counter-puncher.
“What’s going to be the real difference for me to get up to the top is going to be more the aggressive side. More taking risks and [taking] my shots on, but calculated risks, and improving starting the point as well.
“Against the top girls, you really need to have a weapon on serve and also from the back.”
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