Emma Raducanu on Thursday beat four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka 6-4, 6-2 in their first career meeting to reach the quarter-finals at the Washington Open, while in the women’s doubles, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching exited in the quarter-finals.
Raducanu, US Open champion in 2021, faces former world No. 3 Maria Sakkari after the Greek stunned American second seed Emma Navarro in straight sets.
“I thought it was going to be a really difficult match. Naomi’s won four Slams, she’s been world number one, won Masters,” Raducanu told Sky Sports. “She’s so dangerous and on the hard courts, I think she’s particularly comfortable.”
Photo: AFP
“I knew I was going to have to play well and manage my own service games, which I’m really proud of how I did. I was making some inroads in her service game after I got used to it a little bit,” she said. “I’m really pleased with how I handled the ball speed and conditions here in DC.”
Raducanu, who is poised to reclaim the British No. 1 ranking from Katie Boulter when the WTA rankings are released on Monday, is also into the women’s doubles semi-finals alongside Wimbledon 2022 champion Elena Rybakina.
They downed Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia and Mexico’s Giuliana Olmos 7-6 (8/6), 6-4, while Taiwan’s Chan was eliminated alongside partner Jiang Xinyu of China, defeated 6-3, 6-4 by US pair Sofia Kenin and Caroline Dolehide.
Photo: AFP
Venus Williams’ comeback tournament after 16 months away from the game ended with a 6-2, 6-2 loss to Polish fifth seed Magdalena Frech.
The 45-year-old seven-times singles Grand Slam champion became the oldest player to win a WTA singles match since 2004 when she beat Peyton Stearns in her Washington opener on Tuesday.
“Oh, I had so much fun. Definitely not the result I wanted, but still a learning experience. The part about sport [and] life is that you never stop learning,” Williams said. “I got to play a lot of matches here and that definitely was a plus. The fans in DC are just epic. I couldn’t have been happier with my first week back.”
Photo: AFP
She won a doubles match, too, and playing a four matches — two each in singles and doubles — across four days finally caught up to her.
“I feel like I ran out of gas today, unfortunately,” Williams said. “I tried to find the energy and I didn’t find it.”
In other action on Thursday, top-seeded Jessica Pegula lost to 2021 US Open runner-up Leylah Fernandez 6-3, 1-6, 7-5 at the Willian H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center.
Seeded men advancing in the singles included No. 1 Taylor Fritz, No. 4 Ben Shelton, No. 6 Frances Tiafoe, No. 7 Alex de Minaur, No. 8 Daniil Medvedev, No. 12 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and No. 14 Brandon Nakashima.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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