By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, January 2, 2024
Playing her first Tour-level match in eight months, Raducanu squeezed past Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 in her ASB Classic opener.
Photo credit: Dave Rowland/Getty
Chronic injury, several surgeries and extended rehab left Emma Raducanu's career idling last season.
A revved up Raducanu showed survival skills scoring a winning return in Auckland today.
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Playing her first Tour-level match in eight months, Raducanu squeezed past Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 in her ASB Classic opener.
It was Raducanu's first match since she lost to Jelena Ostapenko, 6-2, 6-1, in her Stuttgart opener last April.
Since then, the 21-year-old Briton underwent ankle surgery and surgeries to both wrists last May.
Closure didn't come easy for Raducanu today as she squandered a 5-2 lead and saw Ruse battle back to level the final set, 5-5.
The 2021 US Open champion broke back for 6-5 and converted her third match point to close.
"It's pretty amazing to just be out here and playing," Raducanu said. "I'm just really happy to be back on the tour and can't wait to start this season and carry on hopefully injury-free and healthy."
Raducanu broke serve six times and said she's pleased to be playing again after an extended rehab period.
"It's difficult after having such a long hiatus, but I'm grateful to be healthy, grateful to be able to move my body, not bed-ridden and in a wheelchair," Raducanu said.
The victory sends the world No. 301 Raducanu, who is competing on a protected ranking of No. 103, into a second-round showdown vs. Wimbledon semifinalist Elina Svitolina and a step closer to an Australian Open main-draw berth.
Should a woman on the entry list for Australian Open, which starts on January 14th, withdraw, then Raducanu would gain direct entry. Raducanu, who is currently entered into Australian Open qualifying, could also be awarded a main-draw wild card by Tennis Australia.
Earlier, Svitolina won the battle of the moms defeating former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-3.
“It was really special for me to get such a great win today against Caroline,” said Svitolina. “She’s a great player and I’m really glad she came back."
Svitolina slid six aces against one double fault and saved six of nine break points.
The second-seeded Svitolina, who won her 17th career title in Strasbourg last year, will take on Raducanu for the first time.