Photo Credit: Rob Newell/Camera Sport
Aryna Sabalenka responded as a World No. 1 should to a stern challenge from a determined opponent in front of a friendly yet partisan crowd to reach the second week at Wimbledon.
The top-seeded Sabalenka defeated Emma Raducanu 7-6 (6), 6-4 on Centre Court to reach the fourth round at the All-England Club.
Raducanu, who won the US Open in 2021, has been on the comeback trail for some time and hoped this match could prove she was on her way back to the top of the sport. While she certainly proved she is on the right track, unfortunately for her, she could not hang on to the leads in both sets before Sabalenka eventually closed out the win.
"Honestly, she played incredible tennis and pushed me really hard," Sabalenka said after the match. "I fought her like crazy for every point, trying to stay calm and push myself to my limits. "And the atmosphere. Wow. My ears are still hurting. Every time you guys were cheering her, I was telling myself 'pretend they're cheering for you'. I had goose bumps."
“She played such incredible tennis. She pushed me really hard to get this win. I fought for every point like crazy. Happy to see her healthy and back on track. Soon, she’ll be back in the top 10.”
The primetime match, with the roof closed, provided extra atmosphere and buzz for the anticipated match right from the start. Raducanu, currently ranked World No. 40, looked ready to perhaps pull off the upset early on.
With confident play, she earned the first service break of the match and soon found herself leading at 4-2.
Yet Raducanu couldn't sustain her momentum. Raducanu surrendered her next service game at love, and Sabalenka quickly leveled to 4-all.
At 5-4 with Raducanu serving to level the set, both women entered into a long, tense, but ragged 13-minute game that saw moments of excellence yet plenty of errors from both. Sabalenka would hold seven set points, but often committed ill-timed errors, especially on her backhand return.
Raducanu finally held for 5-all to the delight of the crowd when Sabalenka struck yet another backhand long down game point. After trading service breaks, both players entered a tiebreak that once again see-sawed with tension and great shotmaking from both.
Raducanu edged ahead 6-5 and held a set point on her serve when Sabalenka missed a swing volley earlier.
Yet while Sabalenka is known for her power, her delicate touch came in handy at the right time. Down set point, Sabalenka cut a fine backhand drop shot in mid-rally to win the point.
She went on to earn her eighth set point, which she finally converted with a volley winner for 7-6(6).
The second set was almost a carbon copy of the first.
Raducanu, bounced back with yet another early service break, once again giving the Centre Crowd hopes she could come all the way back. Balancing power and control, Raducanu elevated her level and never seemed to be phased by the power of Sabalenka's massive ground strokes.
With a volley winner, Raducanu soared to a 4-1 lead. She then looked poised to earn yet another break. Yet Sabalenka, saving a break point, earned a needed hold for 2-4.
From there, it was Sabalenka who raised her game while Raducanu wavered just at the wrong time. Sabalenka, with strong returns, broke Raducanu and then quickly held for 4-all.
Multiple errors from Raducanu in the next game proved costly as she fell behind 0-40 on her serve. Sabalenka, with another potent backhand return, broke for 5-4.
Sabalenka in the final game jumped out to a 40-0 lead. Raducanu saved the first two match points against her, but then Sabalenka fired down a final strong serve her opponent couldn't handle to seal the straight sets win.
When asked if she earned confidence from her performance, Raducanu later said in press, "Yeah, it gives me confidence to kind of have pushed the best in the world to play some really good points and really good rallies. Yeah, it's nice of her to say that, but I think it was pretty clear the difference. In the big moments, she was able to convert, she was able to hit some incredible shots. Yeah, I just need to keep working and get back to the drawing board and improve a lot more."
Next for Sabalenka is her former doubles partner and No. 24 seed Elise Mertens.