Emma Raducanu will have to return to the Andy Murray Arena in just a few hours’ time, despite causing an upset as she beat No. 7 seed Sorana Cirstea 6-4 6-2 in the second round. Organisers are being forced to play catch-up at the Queen’s Club after every single match was rained off on Thursday, including Raducanu vs Cirstea. It means the British No. 1 will be back on the same stage later on Friday to complete her quarter-final match.
Raducanu and Cirstea briefly took to the court on Thursday afternoon and didn’t even make it through the warm-up before the rain forced them off again. After hanging around all day until their match was finally cancelled at 6.30pm, the world No. 42 wasted no time once the clash got underway around 19 hours later.
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Raducanu needed just 17 minutes to race into a 4-0 lead over the world No. 18, and had a point to break again. But she finally let up, and Cirstea won four of the next five games to close the gam.
The double-break cushion Raducanu had established earlier was enough to see her through. The Brit saved a break point as she closed out the set at the first time of asking, pumping her fists as she looked towards her team.
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With the momentum back on her side, Raducanu got off to a perfect start in set two, breaking the No. 7 seed. And centre court erupted as she sent a winner straight past Cirstea to move 2-0 ahead.
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Feeling at home on the grass, Raducanu proved relentless and broke again in the fifth game of the set, moving ever-closer to the quarter-finals. The British No. 1 received an ovation as she stepped up to serve for the match after just one hour and 23 minutes. She just pushed the ball wide on her first match point, but got the job done on her second as Cirstea netted her return.
Afterwards, Raducanu told the crowd: “It feels incredible to have come out and played how I did today against Sorana. She's been a player who, this year, has had incredible form, amazing wins, reached a high ranking. Earlier this year, she beat me. But I’m really glad that I could kind of get her back at home as well.”
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It’s revenge for Raducanu, who suffered a bruising 6-0 6-2 defeat to Cirstea in the Transylvania Open final back in February while feeling unwell. And she’s through to the last eight, having dropped just nine games across her first two matches.
The world No. 42 will now return for the final match on the Andy Murray Arena on Friday, as she awaits the winner of a contest between British No. 5 Harriet Dart and lucky loser Kamilla Rakhimova.
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Raducanu added: “Just really pleased that I'm able to play another match here, today I think! So hopefully you guys can stick around. It means so much for everyone to have stuck around yesterday. I know I had some friends here doing that, but for the whole crowd to be doing that, it’s a privilege and I really wanted to show some good tennis to make up for the rain delay, so hopefully I did that.”
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There will be two more matches on the centre court at the Queen’s Club before Raducanu returns. First, it’s an all-American battle between Iva Jovic and last year’s runner-up, Amanda Anisimova. Then, Katie Boulter faces Elena Rybakina.
Raducanu also reached the quarter-finals here a year ago before losing to Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng. She’s bidding to reach her second semi-final of the season after that Transylvania Open finals run.
