Raducanus big-game mentality lauded by ex-British No 1 after Aussie Open win

01/18/2022

A former British number one was impressed with Emma Raducanu’s big-game mentality after the teen started her Australian Open campaign with a win.

The world number 18 prevailed 6-0, 2-6, 6-1 over 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens to reach the second round of the year’s first Grand Slam.

The Briton made a scintillating start as she wrapped up the first set without losing a game in less than 20 minutes.

The experienced Stephens soon settled and began to apply more pressure on Raducanu and extracted more errors from the British number one’s racket as the scores were levelled at one set apiece.

After both players left the court for a break, Raducanu came back rejuvenated and broke the American’s serve at the start of the deciding set.

As the 19-year-old grew in confidence and Stephens struggled for consistency, it was one-way traffic from there as the reigning US Open champion produced a drop shot on match point, which brought about an error from Stephens to seal the win.

Following the match, ex-British number one Greg Rusedski took to Twitter to praise Raducanu following an impressive performance.

He wrote: “Whenever there is a slam, @EmmaRaducanu brings out her best tennis. Sign of a champion when you can do that at the biggest events. Perfect start from Emma.”

The youngster’s performance is even more remarkable given she tested positive for the coronavirus last month which prevented her from competing in an Abu Dhabi exhibition tournament.

She was then trounced 6-0, 6-1 by Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina in under an hour at the Sydney International event last week.

But as we have seen over the last several months, Grand Slams seem to bring out the best in Raducanu and she was delighted with the victory.

“To get this win means a lot," the 17th seed told BBC Sport.

"I try to treat every match the same but the Slams do feel a bit different, they do feel special. But I was happy with my level."

She added: “After the last few weeks I've had, this win definitely means a lot to me.

"I'm very happy with the level I managed to put out there and the improvements I made in a short space of time.”

Raducanu will play Montenegro's Danka Kovinić in round two.

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