RADUCANU SURVIVES A FRIGHT NIGHT
EMMA BATTLES BACK FROM SCARE FOR FIRST WIN SINCE US OPEN TRIUMPH
EMMA RADUCANU sealed her first win since New York last night by serving an identical ace out wide to that which clinched the Us Open.
Yet her first-ever victory on the regular WTA Tour, at the Transylvania Open, turned out to be very different to anything seen at Flushing Meadows — an authentic scrap in which she flirted with defeat.
The Kent teenager overcame the seasoned Polona Hercog 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 in two hours and 28 minutes, coming close to losing when she faced break points late in the second set. she faces Romanian Ana Bogdan in the second round tomorrow, having survived this genuine scare in the land of Dracula.
Such has been the speed of her ascent that there are many gaps in Raducanu’s tennis education, if not her academic one. she had never won at this level of the regular circuit before, incredibly, but this is just the kind of priceless experience she will want to bank in her burgeoning account.
Hercog, a wily campaigner who is ranked a falsely low 124, is exactly the kind of player she will meet most weeks: the determined pro keen to take what would now be a major scalp.
Fighting her off took most of what Raducanu had, although she retained enough at the end to address the tiny crowd in Romanian, giggling as she went.
Such is her affection for the place, it served as motivation during the match. ‘When I was in trouble I was thinking: “I don’t want to leave here,” and that helped me through it,’ she said later. ‘I want to see my grandmother but let’s wait a few days.
‘It was very difficult, I wasn’t playing my best tennis. I really had to fight hard to pull that one out. That was a great learning curve.’
It was also the first match played in front of her father Ian, who sat up in the stands occasionally urging his daughter on when the going got tough, in the absence of a coach. He was in the shadows but she clearly knew exactly where he was. ‘It was nice to have him at a tournament with me. He almost never travels abroad to watch me play. It meant a lot to be playing here in the country that my dad is from.’
This was a match officially played behind closed doors due to abruptly introduced government regulations in response to increasing Covid cases.
There were, however, around 100 people in the BT Arena who had somehow found their way in — some being tournament volunteers.
Raducanu started promisingly to forge a 4-1 lead in the opening set but then lost the next five games as the rangy slovenian found consistency. The Us Open champion’s serve and forehand were not functioning smoothly and Hercog was good enough to take advantage.
But she was not steady enough to pounce when Raducanu conceded a break point both at 4-4 and 5-5 in the second set.
Having saved those, the Brit broke to take the set and that completely altered the momentum of the match, with one player deflated and the other more resembling a Grand slam winner.