Emma Raducanu loses but Cameron Norrie emerges victorious in Cincinnati
Emma Raducanu loses but Cameron Norrie emerges victorious in Cincinnati: Emma Raducanu’s dominant form at the Cincinnati Open came to an end as seventh seed Jessica Pegula defeated her and proved a sharp step up in class for the British number one.
Emma Raducanu had smashed veterans Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka but surrendered to Pegula with 7-5 6-4 in the last 16.
The 19-year-old has switched her focus to defending her crown at the US Open. The US Open is set to start in New York on 29 August.
Cameron Norrie defeated Ben Shelton to reach the men’s quarter-finals.
British men’s number one Norrie, who is seeded ninth, won 6-0 6-2 against the teenage American wildcard.
Norrie defeated Andy Murray in the previous round and secured victory in just 57 minutes. He will be playing against Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, who is seeded third, in the quarter-finals.
Following her defeat by Pegula, Raducanu admitted that her time in Cincinnati had shown that making mistakes is a step forward.
“In the past year it is one of the few tournaments that I have started going for my shots more,” she said.
“This week I was like, ‘look, I’m just going to try, I don’t care if I make errors, it’s fine, I’m just going to overhit if anything’.”
“I am pretty proud of how I did this week, it is a great step to move forward.”
Optimism around Raducanu elevated after her statement win against 23-time Grand Slam champion Williams. She also defeated her fellow major winner Azarenka, albeit with the caveat that both of her aging opponents are far from their prime.
Against Williams, the world number 13 produced probably her best performance following her shock win at the US Open last year. Raducanu backed that up with another confident display against an out-of-sorts Azarenka.
Raducanu dropped just six games combined in the two victories. Each win lasted a little over an hour. This was a welcome boost for Raducanu after she had a tough year.
But after facing the consistent Pegula, it provided a better assessment of where the Briton’s game is.
It was only the second time in Raducanu’s burgeoning career that she went on to face a top-10 ranked opponent and, in Pegula, who has the second highest number of WTA 1000 match wins from the start of 2021.
After losing serve in the third game of the match, Raducanu broke straight back but was under continuous pressure by Pegula’s heavier ball-striking.
Raducanu fought off three more breakpoints to acquire for 3-2, and another in the ninth game, but Pegula soon took another chance for a 6-5 lead.
That opportunity left the 28-year-old American serving for the opening set and she grabbed it without conceding a point.
Recent failures in Washington and Toronto saw Raducanu edging out in tight opening sets before she faded quickly against both Liudmila Samsonova and Camila Giorgi.
Raducanu smashed an untimely double fault and fell a break down early in the second set against Pegula. While her opponent’s level remained slightly higher, she did show resilience to stay within a single break.
The narrow lead was enough for Pegula to serve out the match without being under too much pressure. Pegula has been enjoying her breakout year after struggling with injuries at the start of her career.
As the US Open is knocking at the door, Radacuna is still in the process of working out what type of player she wants to be.
“I think I do each of the aspects pretty well, separated. But I just need to put them together,” she said.
“For example, some weeks I have served really, really well. Then some weeks it would just disappear and I become more of a defensive player. Then I become more of an attacking player.”
“So I am still trying to find the balance and trying to package my game together.”
As many predicted, Raducanu’s first full season on the WTA Tour turned out to be a learning curve. She had to deal with a string of injury setbacks which is a tough adjustment for young players to make.
However, she ought to return to Flushing Meadows with renewed hope after a productive and confidence-boosting session in Cincinnati.
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