Emma Raducanu is beginning to display glimmers of the genius that won her the 2021 US Open.
This week at Eastbourne, the British player is putting up a strong performance, and it comes just in time for Wimbledon.
She defeated former US Open champion Sloane Stephens to force a difficult match against Jessica Pegula.
Pegula, who is currently rated fifth in the world, is enjoying a period of relative success.
It was a wonderful way to gauge Raducanu’s level of play because the American won last week at the Grass Court Championships in Berlin.
Raducanu fought back to win the second set on a tie break after Pegula had won the first.
Surprisingly, in her entire career, the British player had never taken a set off a top-10 player before.
Before she even won a set against a player ranked in the top 10, she had already achieved a Grand Slam, advanced to the Wimbledon fourth round, defeated Serena Williams, and received an MBE.
The 21-year-old accomplished even more as she won her first-ever match against a top-10 opponent, 4-6 7-6 7-5.
People are blown away by that statistic on social media.
Regarding X, someone commented, “Thats a mad stat for a Grand Slam champion.”
Another said: “Stats that don’t feel real…”
The highest ranked person she beat at the US Open in 2021 was her quarter-final opponent Belinda Bencic, who was then ranked 12 in the world.
“I am pretty drained right now but I just want to say thanks to everyone again for getting me through some really difficult moments in that match,” Raducanu said in her courtside interview.
“It is incredibly difficult when you are playing someone so in form like Jessica. She came off the back of a great run in Berlin and no doubt she is feeling confident on the grass.
“I am really pleased with how I managed to navigate some really tough situations and I didn’t think I would be able to get myself out of it, so I would say this match is one of the more meaningful ones to me. I have been going through some stuff, so to come through has been really nice.”
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