‘I think I died three times!’ – Emma Raducanu overcomes blisters to win marathon Citi Open clash
Emma Raducanu battled her way through blisters to beat Camila Osorio at the Citi Open.
Raducanu was made to really work for it, with the Colombian scrapping for nearly three hours before eventually succumbing.
However, the 7-6, 7-6 win sees her advance into the quarter-finals as the US Open champion once again appears to be saving her best tennis for America.
Talking about the blisters, for which she needed a medical time out, Raducanu said: “It came out of nowhere to be honest.
“At the beginning of the match I was alright, then throughout the match my skin was just ripping off.
“In the beginning, there was like a flap, but then the flap got ripped off and it was pretty raw and open.”
Blisters were not the only problem for Emma Raducanu either, with her also having to find a way to come through hot and humid conditions in Washington.
Temperatures peaked at around 36C/97F, and the Brit had to summon every ounce of her resilience to win the match.
“I think I died about three times in that match” ?@EmmaRaducanu | #CitiOpen pic.twitter.com/gRwOW80fVb
— wta (@WTA) August 4, 2022
“I think I died about three times in that match and then came back. I don’t know how!” Raducanu said.
“Camila is such a battler. Every single point I was working so, so hard and sometimes it wasn’t necessarily the strongest shots, but you’ve just got to generate, generate over and over again,” she added.
“She’s such a fighter and even when I was up in the second set, 4-2, 40-love, three break points, she came back fighting. When she comes back, the dynamic of the match changes a little bit so I’m really pleased to have got through that one.
“After a set like that where there’s so much emotion involved and you win the set, it’s very easy to switch off. I was telling myself to stay sharp, keep working for every point. I knew as soon as I let up she’d be right back in and that’s what she did.”
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