Emma Raducanu will face Aryna Sabalenka next at the Cincinnati Open, in one of the event’s most mouth-watering early match-ups.
It sees the two reunite after their thriller at Wimbledon last month, which saw the 22-year-old push the world number one to the brink, but just fell short.
The hope is that, despite moving over to Aryna Sabalenka’s favoured surface, she can repeat that feat again but acquire the ruthlessness needed to record the biggest win of her career.
Speaking to reporters after her opening-round triumph over Olga Danilovic, she assessed her chances of having to face one of Marketa Vondrousova or the Belarusian before the two had played their match.
And, with the latter having come out on top, her claims remain relevant.
Emma Raducanu previews her Cincinnati Open match vs Aryna Sabalenka
In comments released by Cincinnati.com, they spoke at length to the British number one, not only analysing her most recent win, but looking ahead to her goals for the rest of the season.
Asked about her overall chances of success at the tournament, Emma Raducanu played down any chances of titles in the near future, admitting: “I know there will be a time where I’ll be targeting big tournaments, Masters and Slams, but to be honest, right now, that’s not my goal. My goal is to improve as a player.”
She then assessed her Cincinnati Open performance against Danilovic: “Bar the first game today, that was not very much fit, but other than that, I was pretty mature and disciplined in my performance.
“ I took care of my service games really well. And I knew that playing Olga, who’s really difficult and really dangerous as a lefty and with big strikes, it was going to be important.”
It has been a week of relentless training for Raducanu, who has partnered with new coach Francisco Roig. She revealed as much in additional claims: “My home this week so far has been the site. I’ve been here (for) like, 13 hours a day, every day, so part of that is training, a lot (of it is) the rain in between … but it’s actually a site that has been so nice actually to hang around, and it’s so modern.”
Raducanu then finished by assessing her chances against Sabalenka: “I’m reasonable enough, and I guess honest enough with myself, to know that different surfaces favour different people, and where my game is at in comparison.
“So, I think the grass gave me a bit of an advantage (against Sabalenka), but we’ll see how it goes.”
How Emma Raducanu reacted to losing to Aryna Sabalenka at Wimbledon
This marked a frank admission from Raducanu.
However, these are the words of a maturing, honest individual who knows where her level is currently at, but is also well aware of where she can reach.
A former Grand Slam champion herself, this youngster still knows exactly what it takes to win the sport’s greatest events.
As such, she reflected well immediately after that Wimbledon loss to Sabalenka, noting: “It’s hard to take a loss like that. At the same time, I’m playing Aryna, who is a great champion. I have to be proud of my effort.
“It does give me confidence because I think the problem before was that I felt like I was gulfs away from the very top.”
It will be interesting to see how she has progressed since then, especially given how Raducanu has praised her new coach Francisco Roig recently.
