Raducanu puts family date on ice after victory
EMMA Raducanu backed up her maiden WTA Tour win with a straightforward victory over Ana Bogdan to reach the quarter-finals at the Transylvania Open.
The British No.1, who battled past Polona Hercog in three sets in her opening match, stepped up a level against Bogdan and began showing glimpses of the form that swept her to the US Open title last month.
An early break in the opening set put Raducanu firmly in the driving seat in Cluj. Romanian Bogdan is a dangerous opponent despite her lowly ranking of No.106, but she was being consistently outmanoeuvred by the 18-yearold from Kent.
Raducanu broke again at the start of the second and although Bogdan retrieved it, the Briton hit straight back to win 6-3, 6-4.
Another victory means Raducanu has to delay a visit to see her grandmother.
Raducanu’s father, who is travelling with his daughter this week, is Romanian and the plan is to go and visit his family in Bucharest after her run at the tournament ends.
Romania has taken Raducanu to its heart this week, and she said in her on-court interview: “It was so good to play a Romanian here.
“There are no fans, unfortunately, but there are all the volunteers who make this tournament possible and I loved playing with some noise again, against Ana who is a great opponent.
“I think it’s taking me some time to find my feet still. I’m learning from every match I play and I don’t think I’m the finished product yet, but I’m learning and I’m loving my time at this tournament.”
Raducanu will face another teenager, 19-year-old Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, in the last eight.
Meanwhile, British No.1 Cameron Norrie squandered three match points as he was knocked out of the Vienna Open by Felix AugerAliassime.
It was a remarkable turnaround from No.6 seed Auger-Aliassime, who was 3-6 down in the second-set tie break before reeling off five points in a row to force a deciding set.
After two hours and 36 minutes, the Canadian came out on top with a 2-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4 win and will face either Alex De Minaur or Alexander Zverev in the quarter-finals of the ATP 500 tournament.
Although Norrie saved two match points himself, he could not stop Auger-Aliassime from converting his third to seal victory.
“I just really had in my mind that I couldn’t go away easily. I wanted to push him to really beat me and deserve it in the second set,” Auger-Aliassime told atptour.com. “He did well. I was down three match points. In a way, I was lucky.
“He was so close to winning, I just hit a crazy passing shot on match point to save it, so sometimes the margins are small. That was the case today, so I’ll take it.”