Aryna Sabalenka was full of praise for Emma Raducanu and made a prediction about the Brit after the pair\u2019s epic Cincinnati Open showdown.<\/p>\n
The world No 1 overcame 39th-ranked Raducanu 7-6(3), 4-6, 7-6(5) in an intense third round Cincinnati contest lasting three hours and nine minutes<\/a>.<\/p>\n After the pair split the first two sets, Sabalenka<\/a> prevailed in a decisive tiebreak after a marathon 90-minute third set.<\/p>\n The three-time major champion now holds a 3-0 record against 2021 US Open winner Raducanu<\/a>, although all three encounters have been competitive.<\/p>\n In their third round Wimbledon meeting last month, Sabalenka won 7-6(6), 6-4 in a pulsating clash after saving a set point in the first set and recovering from 1-4, 30-40 down in the second.<\/p>\n Following the match at the WTA 1000 tournament in Ohio, Sabalenka hailed Raducanu\u2019s development.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m super happy once again to see her back and fighting,\u201d said Sabalenka.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery tournament, I feel like she\u2019s improving and getting better, and she definitely gonna get back into the top 10.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s moving well, she\u2019s a smart player. She\u2019s serving well, even though sometimes you can see where she\u2019s going. But the speed, the spin is very difficult to adjust to. She\u2019s basically doing everything [well].\u201d<\/p>\n The Belarusian added: \u201cAs I said at Wimbledon I am really happy to see her healthy \u2013 mentally and physically.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery time she is improving and I can see she is getting back to her best. I\u2019m enjoying fighting against her \u2013 she is such an incredible player.\u201d<\/p>\n Emma Raducanu, the crying baby, her vocal coach Francisco Roig and breaking the rules<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Who is Aryna Sabalenka\u2019s new coach? Former world No 1 joins Grand Slam champion\u2019s entourage<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n In an interview with Tennis Channel, the 27-year-old admitted Raducanu had made her feel \u201cold\u201d during the match.<\/p>\n \u201cThe whole time I\u2019ve been thinking this is what they call aging,\u201d Sabalenka declared.<\/p>\n \u201cI was like, \u2018This is how it feels to be old.\u2019 I looked at Emma and she was pumped and ready to play the next point and I was still trying to recover my breath. I was like, \u2018What\u2019s going on?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cI couldn\u2019t believe I\u2019m getting old. I looked at Jason (her fitness coach), didn\u2019t say anything, but we need to do something because I\u2019m getting old.<\/p>\n \u201cI was just trying to control my breath. I was just trying to do those slow exhales, just make sure I can breathe normal. And I was hoping that I\u2019m going to be able to stay there in these conditions and get the win.\u201d<\/p>\n On playing matches of such intensity, Sabalenka said: \u201cIt\u2019s fun to watch, not fun to play. I go for the shots and I pray. My team is always cramping up watching me, but it\u2019s fun afterwards \u2014 especially if you win.<\/p>\n \u201cI never go for crazy amounts of practice during a tournament, but we\u2019ll do some extra recovery, stretching, mobility \u2014 just to make sure my \u2018old\u2019 body will be ready.<\/p>\n \u201cI just did the cold plunge for ten minutes. The last time I did it in Florida, I could only last one minute. That\u2019s how hard it felt today \u2014 I didn\u2019t even want to get out. But I had to, because I had to talk to you guys.<\/p>\n \u201cI was brave enough to come to the net and go for some risky shots I\u2019ve been working on in the last couple of weeks.<\/p>\n \u201c[New coach] Max [Mirnyi] is happy with my volley, but at the same time, he\u2019s like, \u2018That\u2019s too risky.\u2019 Still, I was pretty happy with those shots. I think I just made quite brave decisions, and that\u2019s why I got the win.\u201d<\/p>\n READ NEXT: Emma Raducanu gets strong verdict on top 10 and Grand Slam hopes from Serena Williams\u2019 ex-coach<\/a> The post Aryna Sabalenka gives her honest verdict on Emma Raducanu after Cincinnati Open thriller<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Aryna Sabalenka was full of praise for Emma Raducanu and made a prediction about the Brit after the pair\u2019s epic Cincinnati Open showdown. The world No 1 overcame 39th-ranked Raducanu 7-6(3), 4-6, 7-6(5) in an intense third round Cincinnati contest lasting three hours and nine minutes. After the pair split the first two sets, Sabalenka […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}WTA Tour News<\/h2>\n
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