Emma Raducanu seals straight-sets win to reach Nottingham Open quarter-finals to continue impressive comeback
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Updated 13/06/2024 at 19:02 GMT
After being out of action since April, Emma Raducanu has returned to the court in time for the grass court season - starting at the Nottingham Open. She followed up a straight-sets win in the first round with another comfortable victory against Daria Snigur. Raducanu recovered from a slow start to take full control of the match and book her place in the quarter-finals.
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Emma Raducanu says she overcame self-doubt to reach the quarter-finals of the Nottingham Open with a 6-2 6-2 win against Daria Snigur.
Raducanu arrived with plenty of confidence after her first match since April ended with a convincing straight-sets victory against Ena Shibahara in the first round.
However, things did not start as well for the 2021 US Open champion in round two after being broken in her opening service game to quickly find herself 2-0 down in the first.
Raducanu proceeded to break straight back and saved two break points on her next serve to level the set.
The former British No. 1 then found her rhythm and went on to reel off six straight games to put the slow start behind her and take the first set.
In her opening win in Nottingham, Raducanu was critical of the line judges and said she felt like she was “playing two v one”.
She was drawn into conversation with the umpire once again at the start of the second set and, despite her protestations, Snigur held in the opening game.
Raducanu did, however, get the first break of the second set at her next opportunity.
Impressively, Raducanu stayed calm when facing break points, producing a number of huge aces at crucial moments.
Playing with power and focus, she extended her advantage with a second break to put her 5-2 up and within one service game of reaching the quarter-finals.
Despite Snigur valiantly fighting to stay in the match, Raducanu converted her third match point to reach the quarter-finals.
Speaking after her victory, Raducanu said: "It was an extremely tricky match. Honestly, I knew from before I came on I need to be on it today because Daria is a really good player and grass court player especially. She won junior Wimbledon, I played with her in the juniors growing up so I know how tricky she is to play.
"I’m very happy with how I managed it, especially in the beginning, and came through.
After losing the first two games before going on to win six in a row, Raducanu was happy with how she kept control.
"Tennis, I feel like, is a game of momentum and you really have to capitalise when you’re feeling the run. Whether that’s games in a row, whether that’s matches in a row, whether that’s tournaments in a row."
"Wins and games are really hard to come by so when you’re up, you really have to stay on it. You almost have this feeling that ‘something’s going to go wrong, something’s going to go wrong’ but it’s just trying to shut that one out and keep going with the tactics and do whatever you can to just get your nose ahead."
Raducanu will next face the winner of the match between Briton Francesca Jones and American Ashlyn Krueger.
Jones was leading 6-4 4-6 6-5, and serving for the match at 30-30, when rain suspended play on Thursday afternoon.
Rain eventually forced the action for the rest of the day to be cancelled.
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