Relentless Raducanu aces her first decider in battle of
THE Grand Slam stage inspired Emma Raducanu once again as she marked her Australian Open debut with victory in the battle of the US Open champions against Sloane Stephens.
Wins have been hard to come by for the 19-year-old since her extraordinary success in New York in September but Raducanu found the right formula to claim a 6-0, 2-6, 6-1, victory.
She lost just four points in a startling first set that admittedly was woeful from Stephens before the American hit her stride in the second.
That set up a first decider at this level for Raducanu and she could not have handled it any better, keeping her cool and striking the ball with confidence to clinch victory after an hour and 45 minutes.
Raducanu looked emotional at the end, dropping her racket to the ground and covering her face with her hands, and she said: “It meant a lot, for sure.
“I came here when I played the juniors and I lost first round, so to come out here and get my first win, I was very, very happy.”
Both players went into the match undercooked – Raducanu after a battle with Covid-19 and Stephens following her wedding to footballer Jozy Altidore on New Year’s Day.
Raducanu won only one game against Elena Rybakina in Sydney last week having just returned to full training and it was hard to know what to expect from her here. What transpired in a remarkable 17-minute first set was that Raducanu had found her sharpness while Stephens looked like she was still on honeymoon.
“I definitely wanted to go out there and start playing aggressively and start putting my game on the court,” said Raducanu. “I felt that I was actually just really enjoying my time here, especially going out to practise earlier, I had quite a few people watching. I think that the crowd that stayed pretty late, we were having a good time. I was feeding off that, for sure.”
Helped by a dip from Raducanu, Stephens turned the match around early in the second set. All 14 of Raducanu’s matches
at Wimbledon and the US Open were completed in straight sets so a decider was a new experience but she handled it with aplomb.
“I think 2022 is all about learning for me,” she said. “Being in those situations of winning a set and then having to fight in a decider is definitely just all accumulating into a bank of experience that I can tap into later on down the line.”
Raducanu was joined in the second round by Heather Watson as she rode her “positive wave” to a first Grand Slam victory for a year.
The British No.2 broke a seven-match losing streak dating back to August in Adelaide last week and said after a 6-3, 5-7, 6-2, victory over Mayar
Sherif that she had rediscovered her love for the game.
“I’m really happy to get through this one because the last couple years have not been good for me,” she said. “I had a great pre-season in Florida and I found my love and joy for tennis and competing again. I feel like the last couple years I felt really anxious before matches, just really not even wanting to go out there, but trying to get over it because I know in sport there’s always ups and downs.
“Today I was excited to play. I couldn’t wait to get out on the court.”
Harriet Dart, ranked 123, won three matches to qualify, but drawn against seventh seed Iga Swiat bowed out losing 6-3, 6-0.