Raducanu propels Team GB into the BJK Cup Finals
Emma Raducanu yesterday produced another dazzling comeback win to help Great Britain qualify for the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in stunning fashion with a 3-1 win over France.
Anne Keothavong’s team were big underdogs ahead of the qualifier on clay in Le Portel and had lost to the same opponents in Coventry last year, but entered day two level at 1-1 after Raducanu’s impressive three-set victory over Caroline Garcia on Friday.
Katie Boulter put her day one disappointment behind her to produce an excellent 7-5 6-0 win over world number 44 Clara Burel for a career-best victory on clay. It opened the door for former US Open champion Raducanu to send Britain through to the Finals later this year in Seville, but she was pushed all the way by Diane Parry in a pulsating contest that lasted two hours and 52 minutes.
Parry won the first set but Raducanu, back in the team for the first time in two years following an injury-hit 2023, fought back to clinch a tremendous 4-6 6-1 7-6 (1) victory that not only sends her country through to the November Finals, but serves notice to her rivals ahead of the clay-court season.
“To be able to put two matches like that back-toback, three sets and on clay against really tough opponents, it’s just a testament to the work we’ve been doing,” Raducanu said. “I knew it would pay off eventually, so I’m very pleased that this weekend it was able to show.
“On Thursday before the tie, we said how tough this would be but honestly I had a good feeling about the confidence of our team. “We have a very strong team and I am really pleased to have been able to score two points, but it helped so much having Boults this morning lead us to go 2-1 up. “And obviously everyone on the bench and the support staff, they’ve been working around the clock to keep us fit and get us back on court because we finished pretty late last night.
“So, it’s a massive shout out. It’s not just me and Boults, it was everyone.” Meanwhile, Casper Ruud will face Stefanos Tsitsipas in today’s final of Monte Carlo Masters after a 6-5 1-6 6-4 win against Novak Djokovic. The Norwegian won a nailbiting deciding set against the world No. 1, who doublefaulted on Ruud’s match point to confirm the result. World No. 10 Ruud will take on Tsitsipas, who beat Jannik Sinner 6-4 3-6 6-4 earlier in the day in Monaco.
It was just the second defeat of the year for Sinner. Ruud cruised to victory in the opening set, ensuring Djokovic dropped his first set of the tournament.
The Serbian, 36, fought back well in the second set, dropping just one game to take the match to a decider. The third set swung back and forth but having got himself back into the game on serve at 4-5, Djokovic double-faulted on Ruud’s match point to hand the Norwegian victory. Tsitsipas, a two-time winner in Monte Carlo, booked his spot in Monaco after two hours 48 minutes of play. The match swung in the deciding set when Sinner, who was on the brink of a double break at 3-1, saw an incorrect call go against him. The line judge failed to call Tsitsipas’ shot as out and Sinner failed to stop in order to review the call, which would have put him 4-1 up. The Italian failed to recover psychologically, and Tsitsipas won four games on the trot from 2-4 down to seal his win.