By Richard Pagliaro | @TennisNow | Tuesday, June 25, 2024
Emma Raducanu reeled off nine games in a row sweeping Sloane Stephens 6-4, 6-0 to set up an Eastbourne clash vs. Jessica Pegula.
Photo credit: Kate Green/Getty for LTA
Arriving for her Eastbourne debut, Emma Raducanu declared she’s reignited her fire for tennis.
Today, Raducanu turned up the heat on her drives and intensity.
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In a clash of US Open champions, Raducanu burned through nine straight games scalding Sloane Stephens 6-4, 6-0 to reach the Eastbourne round of 16.
Fired up from her run to the Nottingham semifinals earlier this month, Raducanu converted six of nine break points. Raducanu won five of her 12 games at love, stopping Stephens for the second time in as many meetings.
Afterward, the world No. 168 said rallying from 3-4 down in the opening set was key to solving Stephens.
“I think for me it was a case of in a way adapting to the court,” Raducanu said. “I’ve never played in Eastbourne. I’ve never played on this center court. Every court plays a little bit differently and I think that at the beginning I was trying to figure out which was the best way for me to play and use my game.
“I think it was a very close first set and I was down quite a bit all the way through and managed to break through. It’s very difficult because Sloane is super athletic and in the first set especially she was making a lot of balls and just counter punching really well. So it took a lot to try to hit through her but I managed to figure it out in the second set.”
The 45th-ranked Stephens dropped to 18-15 on the season. It is Raducanu’s biggest win—by ranking—since she defeated world No. 31 Linda Noskova on the red clay of Stuttgart last April.
The 2021 US Open champion Raducanu will face another American, Berlin champion Jessica Pegula, for a quarterfinal spot.
In their lone prior meeting, Pegula beat Raducanu 7-5, 6-4 at the 2022 Cincinnati round of 16.
The second-seeded Pegula fought off five championship points edging Anna Kalinskaya to capture her fifth career title, including her first grass-court crown.
“I think the case is just recovery and manage to figure out a little bit how to play these courts,” Raducanu said. “The balls get pretty heavy here. It's a case of keep trying to hit through and keep the ball speed up. It's about recovering physically and getting ready to go tomorrow.”
The 2023 French Open finalist Karolina Muchova made a triumphant comeback.
In her first match since she lost to Coco Gauff in the US Open semifinals, Muchova led Elina Avanesyan 3-1 when the qualifier retired after 19 minutes of play.
The 27-year-old Muchova will face Poland’s Magda Linette in the round of 16.