Emma Raducanu earns huge WIN against Grand Slam champ Sloane Stephens at Australian Open
0http://shorturl.at/nMPS7 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdI64z4KvNQr9C1NlDauJ9A https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdI64z4KvNQr9C1NlDauJ9A https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdI64z4KvNQr9C1NlDauJ9A Emma Raducanu earns huge WIN against Grand Slam champ Sloane Stephens at Australian Open
EMMA RADUCANU extended her Grand Slam match-winning streak as she defeated former world No 3 Sloane Stephens in what was her first-ever three-set match at Major level.
Emma Raducanu picked up where she left off at the US Open when she made her Grand Slam return on Tuesday. The world No 18 faced a tough first-round opponent in her Australian Open debut, taking on fellow former US Open champion Sloane Stephens. After starting her 2022 season by losing a set 6-0 in Sydney last week, it was Raducanu's turn to dish out a bagel en route to a 6-0 2-6 6-1 victory over the former world No 3 in an hour and 44 minutes.
Raducanu was playing her first Grand Slam match since winning the US Open as a qualifier back in September.
She became an overnight household name when she came through three qualifying rounds and seven main-draw matches to become the first quaifier in history to win a Major title, all while aged just 18-years-old and ranked down at world No 150.
The win saw Raducanu skyrocket into the world's top 25 and become an instant superstar, later signing brand deals with the likes of Dior, Tiffany & Co., Evian and British Airways.
But she had won just two of six matches after her historic triumph, making the Transylvania Open quarter-final in October but suffering first-round defeats in her three other tournaments.
Ahead of her first full season on the professional tour, Raducanu suffered a setback in her pre-season preperations when she tested positive for Covid ahead of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship, where she had been due to face Olympic champion Belinda Bencic in an exhibition match.
She then withdrew from the Melbourne WTA 250 at the start of the year to give herself an extra week of training, but suffered an emphatic loss in her first match of the season in Sydney last week, winning just one game as ninth seed Elena Rybakina dispatched of her in just 55 minutes, 6-0 6-1.
It didn't look like things were getting any easier for the 19-year-old as she drew the 2017 US Open champion and former world No 3 Sloane Stephens in the first round of the Australian Open - Raducanu's first Grand Slam with direct-entry into the main draw.
But it was a complete reversal of fortunes on Margaret Court Arena, as Raducanu again started the match with a bagel - this time dishing one up to her opponent in 17 minutes.
After getting off to a fast start in the match, the second set began with a lengthy 15-minute service game for Raducanu, who lost her serve after saving four break points.
Stephens, who made the semi-final here in 2013 as a 19-year-old after defeating Serena Williams, started to find her groove as she cemented the break with her first service-hold of the match, but Raducanu stormed back to break at the next opportunity and level things at 2-2.
But the world No 67 had now settled into the match and won four games on the bounce to take the second set 6-2 and force a decider.
It marked Raducanu's first-ever three-set match at Grand Slam level, having won all of her Wimbledon matches in straights as a wildcard last summer before retiring a set-and-a-break down in the round-of-16.
Despite never playing a decider at a Grand Slam, it was the Bromley local who was first to strike in the third, breaking in the first game.
She prematurely went to over for the change of ends when going 40-15 up at 2-0, but eventually managed to serve out the game and sat down with a break-lead in the final set.
Mirroring her flawless first set, the Brit then raced to a 4-0 lead and managed to hold on in a lengthy, three-deuce game to extend her lead to 5-0 and put herself within a game of the match.
But it wasn't to be another bagel, as Stephens got herself on the scoreboard one last time before Raducanu served out a 6-0 2-6 6-1 victory on her Australian Open debut.
It wasn't without some drama as a ball boy needed to capture a bug on the court on match point, before the Brit hit a double fault and lost two successive points, finally converting her third match point
Raducanu will next face Danka Kovinic in the second round on Thursday.
The world No 99 defeated qualifier Jang Su-jeong in their opening match earlier in the day, winning 6-3 2-6 6-4. nonstop news
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