Emma Raducanu is headed into her US Open title defense in just over a week relieved that she is swinging freely again and playing the same brand of attacking tennis that took her to a maiden Grand Slam title last year.
The 19-year-old put in ruthless performances at the Western & Southern Open to beat former major winners Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka before exiting the tournament on Thursday with a loss to world No. 8 Jessica Pegula of the US, going down 7-5, 6-4.
“This week was a great step for me,” she told reporters. “In the past year it’s probably like the first tournament or like one of the few tournaments that I have actually, like started going for my shots more.”
Photo: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY
“This week I kind of just was like: ‘Look, I’m just going to try, I don’t care if I make errors, like it’s fine, but I’m just going to like overhit if anything,’” she said. “I’m pretty proud of how I did this week, and I think it’s a great step to move forward.”
Britain’s Raducanu was a 150th-ranked qualifier when she went on to lift the US Open title last year without dropping a set. She has not won a tournament since.
Raducanu, who last month reached a career-high ranking of No. 10, said she was tired of just trying to play defensively and realized that she would not succeed at the top level by just pushing the ball around.
Photo: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY
“It is definitely like relieving, because I feel like I’m swinging with the same sort of freedom as I probably had, like, more similar to last year,” Raducanu said. “So it feels really good. I think that I can really take it as a positive week, and I actually feel like I’m heading in a good direction again.”
The main draw of the US Open is to start on Aug. 29.
World No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland was also knocked out, while second seed Anett Kontaveit of Estonia also had her preparations for Flushing Meadows cut short in the round of 16.
Photo: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY
Madison Keys of the US beat Swiatek, advancing to the quarter-finals with a 6-3, 6-4 victory.
Keys faces Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina, who beat Alison Riske-Amritraj of the US 6-2, 6-4 to sail into the quarter-finals.
World No. 2 Kontaveit looked to have taken charge of her tie against Zhang Shuai when she won the opening set at a canter, but her Chinese opponent dug deep to claim a stunning 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 upset.
Wimbledon finalist and fifth seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia also exited, ushered out of the door by the Czech Republic’s Petra Kvitova 6-1, 4-6, 6-0.
Kvitova faces Australian Ajla Tomljanovic, who staged a stunning comeback to beat Russian Veronika Kudermetova 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 and reach her first WTA 1000 quarter-final.
Eighth seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus beat the US’ Shelby Rogers to claim the final place in the last eight, winning 6-4, 6-7 (2/7), 6-4.
In the men’s singles, World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev wore down Denis Shapovalov of Canada 7-5, 7-5 to reach the quarter-finals.
The Russian top seed was joined in the last eight by Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas, Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime and Croatia’s Borna Coric, but his compatriot Andrey Rublev, the sixth seed, was ousted by Taylor Fritz of the US.
The other winners were American John Isner, Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz and Cameron Norrie of the UK.
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