At the Washington Open, Emma Raducanu continued her comeback as she defeated Elise Mertens in her opening match and moved back into the top 80 of the WTA Rankings.
The 21-year-old responded firmly to those who questioned her decision to skip the Paris Olympics in favour of concentrating on her health and rankings, winning 6-2, 3-6, and 6-4 in a wild two hours and 26 minutes of play. She acknowledged that her mentality and character were crucial to the result.
Raducanu defeated Mertens to record her tenth top-50 triumph of the 2024 season. With 859 points, Raducanu will move up 14 spots to a provisional No. 75 ranking in the WTA Rankings, which is equal to her highest ranking since January 2023.
Raducanu is happy to have made it beyond a challenging start for the time being. A victory in the second round may propel her into the top 70.
She expressed her feelings after the win and said: “I am immensely pleased to have gotten through that one, not necessarily because of the tennis, but just because of the way I fought and the way I dug myself out of certain situations. I just want to thank all of you for staying late. It’s not easy to be playing this late, let alone stay this late. I’m sure some of you have work tomorrow; appreciate it. I’m very pleased because I love this tournament and I just want to continue here.”
She added: “Getting through the first rounds is always difficult; the first rounds are about getting through them and trying to find a way to work your way into a tournament. I’m very proud of that, and I think I played some pretty good tennis too. I think I lost my focus a bit in the second set, and I am happy to have recovered the break in the third set. I think I am just most proud of my mentality and character today.”
Raducanu in Washington, ranking, and results in 2024
WLWWWLWWLW Ranked no.89, the Brit achieved a composed 17-10 record in 2024. Raducanu is currently having a run in Washington where she beat the world no.35 Elise Mertens 6-2 3-6 6-4.
Emma Raducanu will compete against the world no.46 Viktoriya Tomova in the final. The head to head is 1-0 for Tomova.
Elise Mertens in 2024
LLWLWLWLLW Currently ranked no.35, the Belgian played her last match on the 29th of July when she capitulated to world no.89 Emma Raducanu 6-2 3-6 6-4 in the 1st round in Washington (draw).
This year Elise has managed to achieve an overall 19-18 win-loss record. Elise Mertens’s most significant result of this year was reaching the final in Hobart.
Emma Raducanu and Elise Mertens played each other just twice. Their current record is 2-0 for Raducanu. Previously, the last time they fought against each other, Emma Raducanu won 6-2 3-6 6-4 in the 1st round in Washington (Mubadala Citi DC Open) on the 29th of July 2024.
Here are the highlights.
Emma Raducanu and Elise Mertens |
| Embed from Getty Images |
