More than a month after the memorable match in the 3rd round of Wimbledon, Emma Raducanu continued to show progress. At Cincinnati Masters is taking place, the British tennis player reaches the third round and has the world's No. 1 player in the world Aryna Sabalenka.
This match, Raducanu almost made the seismic when it caused a lot of difficulties for Sabalenka. After 3 hours nine minutes of play, she lost close to the score of 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-7 (5). This result caused the former US Open champion to be eliminated early.
Sharing after the match, Raducanu said that despite losing, she still felt proud of herself: “She is the number 1 in the world, and I made her more hard than Wimbledon. That means I have improved,” Raducanu said.
“In addition, achieving this result on the hard field is also encouraging, because it is very different from the pitch. I used to think that the pitch was much more suitable for me, and still believed the same, so I could push her to the hard pitch, making me quite proud.”
After losing the first set, Raducanu had a strong area. She serve stable for most of her time, and excelled over the game that lasted 13 times in the score of 3-4 in the decision set. However, Sabalenka still proved his bravery to win the final.
Raducanu shared about the lesson withdrawing after this match: “You have to draw lessons from here. I have played well at some point, but sometimes sagging. With hard work, I can maintain a longer form for longer. However, we have just played a three -hour match and I feel quite good when confronting Aryna, so everything is positive.”
The defeat of Sabalenka today also closed Raducanu's first tournament and new coach Francisco Roig. He was a former member of Rafael Nadal coach, who had just worked with her last Tuesday. After the easy victory over Olga Danilovic in the second round, this is the first big match they accompany. During the match, Roig constantly offers encouragement and specific tactical instructions for the British tennis player.
