Emma Raducanu is back in the third round of her home Grand Slam — and her next test will be a battle against the World No. 1.
In a Centre Court clash between Grand Slam champions on Wednesday, 2021 US Open champion Raducanu of Great Britain thrilled her home fans by posting a 6-3, 6-3 victory over 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic.
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World No. 40 Raducanu needed 1 hour and 22 minutes to breeze past Czech left-hander Vondrousova, who beat Ons Jabeur on this court for her first Grand Slam title just under two years ago.
Vondrousova came into Wednesday’s showdown on a six-match winning streak, having just won the Berlin grass-court title, but Raducanu emphatically ended that run.
With the win, former Top 10 player Raducanu leveled her head-to-head with Vondrousova at 2-2 — and both of Raducanu’s wins in their rivalry have come at Wimbledon.
Raducanu’s career-best Wimbledon results have been Round-of-16 showings in 2021 (her Grand Slam main-draw debut, beating Vondrousova en route) and last year.
Of course, between those appearances, she famously stormed to the 2021 US Open title, in just her second career Grand Slam main draw. Winning 10 straight matches over three weeks without losing a set, Raducanu became the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam title.
Upcoming task — the world’s top player: Raducanu is a win away from returning to the Wimbledon Round of 16, but to get there again, she will have to upset No. 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka on Friday.
In Wednesday’s first match on Centre Court, Sabalenka held off Marie Bouzkova 7-6(4), 6-4 to book her spot in the third round against Raducanu.
Sabalenka has defeated Raducanu in their only previous meeting — a 6-3, 7-5 victory on the hard courts of Indian Wells in 2024.
More to come…