Emma Raducanu continued her strong clay-court play in the season with a commanding win over Daria Kasatkina in the first round of the Internationaux de Strasbourg.
The British No. 2 came from an impressive clay performance in Rome, where she reached the last 16. Now, she defeated world No. 17 Kasatkina with a final scoreline of 6-1, 6-3. This achievement gave more confidence to the young athlete, who had never won more than three matches on clay in a single season before.
The result was also Raducanu’s first win against Kasatkina, who recently switched her allegiance to Australia, after losing their previous matches.
With her win, Raducanu expressed in her on-court interview after the match: “To bring that level here, I’m really proud… I think as I spend more time on clay, I’m starting to get to like it a little bit more, and I’m kind of building my relationship with the surface.”
Highlights of the match
Raducanu got off to a great start as she broke Kasatkina in the opening game. Kasatkina played well and Raducanu was broken right back, but the British responded with five straight games to win the first set 6-1.
Raducanu kept the momentum going in the second set, holding serve and breaking again to lead 2-0. She extended her run to seven consecutive games. Moreover, Kasatkina managed to break back, but a series of five straight breaks followed, which gave Raducanu the chance to serve for the match at 5-3.
In the final moments of the match, Raducanu missed her first two match points and Kasatkina saved a third as well. On her fourth chance, Raducanu finally sealed the win.
Raducanu entered the tournament with a late wildcard. Now, she will play against American Danielle Collins in the next round, who advanced after a three-set win over fellow American Sofia Kenin.
In a social media post shared by Internationaux de Strasbourg, it stated: “Let your light shine like Emma 🌞”
Netizens praised Emma Raducanu in the comments, with one user saying, “My favourite girl ❤️”.
Other tournament updates
Harriet Dart’s French Open campaign ended with an early exit after she was defeated in the first round of qualifying by Ukraine’s Anastasiia Sobolieva. The British player lost with a final scoreline of 6-1, 6-2.
Moreover, Britain’s Jacob Fearnley won against Serbian wildcard Dusan Lajovic with a final scoreline of 6-4, 6-1 in the opening round of the ATP Geneva Open in Switzerland. This win sets up a second-round match between the athlete and fifth seed Alexei Popyrin of Australia.