The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Raducanu smashes into the next round
Great Britain’s Emma Raducanu continued her Wimbledon fairytale with a sensational win over Marketa Vondrousova to make the third round.
The 18-year-old was only handed a wild card into the main draw at late notice but backed up a round-one victory over Vitalia Diatchenko to claim the biggest triumph of her career on Wednesday with a 6-2 6-4 success on Court 12.
A mixture of powerful hitting and incredible composure from Raducanu saw her deservedly shock the world number 42 in one hour and 12 minutes.
Raducanu, who was 338 in the rankings ahead of her main draw debut at the All England Club, has set up a third-round meeting with Sorana Cirstea, who knocked out 12th seed Victoria Azarenka earlier in the day.
Katie Boulter’s exit to Aryna Sabalenka on Wednesday meant
Raducanu was the last British woman in the singles draw and, despite a fine maiden win at the championships, expectations were low against a vastly more experienced opponent.
Coco Gauff was back at the scene where her life exploded but admits she cannot remember much about her Centre Court achievements of 2019.
The American became the story of Wimbledon by making it from qualifying to the fourth round as a 15-year-old.
Her Centre Court debut came in the third-round victory against Polona Hercog, producing some of the most memorable scenes in the tournament’s history as she saved match points to earn a famous win.
Her journey ended against eventual champion Simona Halep in the next round, but she became the sweetheart of the main show court.
And on her first return there she showed how far she has come, easing past former world number 13 Elena Vesnina 6-4 6-3 in 70 minutes to book her thirdround spot.
Gauff, now 17, admits she was more nervous stepping on to the main show court this time, primarily because she has little recollection of two years ago.
“It did feel a lot different. I honestly was more nervous coming into today’s match,” she said.
“I think the biggest thing is I don’t really remember much from my Centre Court experience in 2019. I don’t know, I felt like it was all a blur.
“But going in today I feel like a completely different player and person.”
Elina Svitolina admits her career has hit a rocky road after becoming the highest casualty of Wimbledon so far.
The third seed was dumped out in the second round by Magda Linette, who posted a career highlight 6-3 6-4 win in little over an hour.
The Ukrainian was a semi-finalist at SW19 in 2019 and followed that up with a run to the last four in the US Open a couple of months later.
But she has fallen on hard times since the coronavirus pandemic struck, having made it past the fourth round in just one of the five grand slams played since.
“When you play a grand slam, it is all of the time a lot, different kind of pressures,” Svitolina said.
“Sometimes it’s tough to handle, but it is part of the job, is part of the grand slam. You have to be strong, try to be good to yourself and try to overcome the fears, the difficulties.”
World number one Ashleigh Barty made it past Anna Blinkova 6-4 6-3, French Open winner Barbora Krejcikova enjoyed a 7-5 6-4 win over Andrea Petkovic and No 12 seed Victoria Azarenka lost 7-6 (5) 3-6 6-4 to Romanian Sorana Cirstea on Court One.