Emma Raducanu using Brits success as ‘healthy competition’ after first top 10 win
Emma Raducanu has picked up the highest ranked win of her career, after beating world No.5 Jessica Pegula to progress to the quarter-finals in Eastbourne.
Raducanu beat Pegula, 4-6 7-6(6) 7-5, in two hours and 46 minutes that included saving a match point in the second set tie-break.
Pegula was just coming off the back of winning the Berlin Open title last week, something that Raducanu noted in her on-court interview.
“I’m pretty drained right now,” admitted Raducanu. “I just want to say thanks to everyone again for getting me through some really difficult moments in that match. It’s incredibly difficult when you’re playing somebody who is so in form. She came off the back of a great run in Berlin and no doubt she’s feeling confident on the grass.”
The 21-year-old continued, “But I’m really pleased with how I managed to navigate against some really tough situations and I didn’t think to be honest I’d be able to get myself out of it.
“I would say this match is one of the more meaningful ones to me. I’ve been going through some stuff, and to come through, it’s been really nice.”
Raducanu is not the only Brit to have progressed to the quarter-finals in Eastbourne, with Katie Boulter and Harriet Dart making it the first time that three British women have achieved this feat since 1978.
And this is another thing that the 2021 US Open champion was asked about on court, explaining how the Brits ‘come alive’ in the grass court season and fired back at doubters.
“I think it is really good, healthy competition. We all see each other progressing into the next round and we want to join them. That is how it should be. We are all pushing each other,” explained the 21-year-old. “We all come alive on this surface. It is testament to how hard we are all working. Contrary to some beliefs about us, I think we are all doing a good job.”
3 – 3 British players (Dart, Boulter and Raducanu) have made the Women’s Singles QFs in Eastbourne for the second time since the tournament inception in 1974 after Anne Hobbs, Virginia Wade and Michelle Tyler in 1978. Trident.#RothesayInternational | @the_LTA @WTA @WTA_insider
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) June 26, 2024
Raducanu will look to reach her first WTA 500 level semi-final later today, when she takes on sixth seed Daria Kasatkina later today.
Inside the baseline…
It was an incredibly impressive victory from Emma Raducanu to beat an inform Jessica Pegula, in her first top 10 and top 5 win! What was almost more impressive is how she won, showing some great fight from a break down in the second set, saving a match point in the tie-break and recomposing in the deciding set after losing her double break lead. Daria Kasatkina will be another tough test for Raducanu, as last year’s runner-up in Eastbourne and a very consistent player on tour.
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