Emma Raducanu has been handed a glorious opportunity to get her US hard court campaign off to a flying start after landing an enticing draw at the WTA 500 Mubadala Citi DC Open after being drawn against a woefully out-of-form Marta Kostyuk.
Raducanu showed some encouraging form on grass courts in recent weeks, with her run to the quarter-finals at the brand new WTA 500 tournament at the Queen’s Club last month before going on to push world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka all the way in a thrilling contest on Wimbledon’s Centre Court.
The 22-year-old wasted little time in getting back on court as she started practising on hard courts she has always enjoyed.
While her US Open win in 2021 is an increasingly distant memory, Raducanu should have gained confidence from her impressive performance against Sabalanka and she has been drawn against a player who is in horrible form heading into the North American hard court swing on the WTA Tour.
Raducanu reached the quarter-finals in Washington last year and she will look to improve on that run this year by starting off with a win against an out-of-touch Kostyuk.
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The Ukrainian has lost her last five matches, with that woeful run including four straight first round defeats, including a disappointing defeat against qualifier Veronika Erjavec at Wimbledon.
Kostyuk has a 2-1 winning record against Raducanu, with her most recent success against the Brit coming in the Madrid Open on clay in May.
That match was an even contest and Raducanu will hope the faster clay court will give her a chance to gain some quick revenge.
If Raducanu beats world No 27 Kostyuk, she will face either four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka or Yulia Putintseva in the second round.
A clash against Emma Navarro or her British compatriot Katie Boulter could lie in wait in the quarter-finals in what is a challenging draw, but what comes next could be hugely significant for Raducanu.
Roll the clock back to this time last year and Raducanu was showing a reluctance to play in qualifying rounds of big WTA Tour events, with her ranking not good enough to get her direct entry into elite tournaments.
It meant her US hard court season consisted of a run fo the quarter-finals in Washington and no more matches until she played and lost in the first round at the US Open.
As her ranking has now improved, she will gain direct entry into the draws for the upcoming WTA 1000 tournaments in Canada and Cincinnati before she returns to Flushing Meadows to play at the US Open.
That means she will be challenging for 4,000 new points over the next few weeks and she will only need to win a few matches to reclaim the British No 1 ranking and maybe even return to the top 20 of the WTA Rankings by the end of the US hard court swing.
Such lofty ambitions may seem a little ambitious for a player who has yet to reach a WTA Tour final at any level, but the expectations around Raducanu are always high and Olympic silver medalist Wang Xinyu suggested the young Brit is dealing with more pressure than most players on the WTA Tour.
Chinese star Wang spoke exclusively to Tennis365 at an Adidas event in London and she suggested Raducanu faces unique challenges as she aims to replicate her famous US Open win.
“I would imagine it is difficult for her,” said Wang. “Yeah, she has won a Grand Slam, but there is a lot of pressure that is now on her every time she plays.
“She won the US Open in one of her first tournaments on the WTA Tour, so it was never going to be easy after that.
“I think she is still growing as a player and also as a person. She is still young. I would say the best thing is to keep yourself away from the pressure and social media. It really doesn’t matter what they say on social media.”
Raducanu in 2025 is a very different athlete than she was as a raw teenager and she will aim to prove as much when she returns to US hard courts.
The post Emma Raducanu gets a massive rankings chance as a top 20 return is within reach appeared first on Tennis365.
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