‘Oh my god!’ – Emma Raducanu ‘very proud’ of Billie Jean King Cup win on double debut
Emma Raducanu has defeated Tereza Martincova of the Czech Republic to bring the Great Britain vs Czech Republic Billie Jean King Cup tie to 1-1 entering the weekend.
After world number 101 Harriet Dart fell convincingly to Olympic silver medallist Marketa Vondrousova 6-1, 6-0, it fell to Raducanu to haul Team GB level again.
She stepped up, downing world number 50 Martincova 7-5, 7-5 in both her professional clay court debut and her Billie Jean King Cup debut.
She said after the victory: “Oh my god, this one means so much to me!
“It’s my first match at Billie Jean King Cup.
“To represent my team and come out here on a clay court, which is my first professional match on clay, it’s really amazing and we’re still in this battle and it’s all to play for tomorrow.”
Raducanu’s last competitive match on clay came nearly four years ago at junior Roland Garros 2018.
There Raducanu reached the second round before falling to Clara Tauson, with the Dane now 38th in the WTA rankings.
Speaking more on adapting to clay, the world number 12 said: “Definitely took some adjusting to it even now in the conditions.
“I’m just very proud of how I dug in.”
Raducanu continued on the support she received from her teammates and captain Anne Keothavong as she was tasked with levelling the tie for her nation.
“The team had my back 100% as we had Harriet [Dart’s] back this morning and it’s amazing to be in a team competition.
“When everything is so individual in this sport, I’m really cherishing the memories that I’m making this week.”
Two more singles rubbers and a double rubber, if needed, will follow to complete the best of five tie on Saturday.
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