Emma Raducanu, the former US Open champion, defeated Marie Bouzkova 6-4, 6-1, securing a date with Ons Jabeur in the round of 16 in Abu Dhabi. This was Raducanu’s first match since her exit from the Australian Open.
In the last match of the day, Raducanu, who is participating in her first tournament of the year after losing in the second round of the Australian Open, defeated her Czech opponent 6-4 6-1 in 82 minutes.
After a sluggish start, the former US Open winner broke Bouzkova three times in the opening set and won four straight games to win 6-4.
Early in the second set, the former US Open champion broke Bouzkova twice to seize control of the match.
In the last match of the day, Raducanu, who is participating in her first tournament of the year after losing in the second round of the Australian Open, defeated her Czech opponent 6-4 6-1 in 82 minutes.
After a sluggish start, the former US Open winner broke Bouzkova three times in the opening set and won four straight games to win 6-4.
Early in the second set, the former US Open champion broke Bouzkova twice to seize control of the match.
After missing the most of last year’s tournament due to injury, Raducanu entered the WTA 500 event as a wildcard. She had a sluggish start to a close opening set in which six games ended in service errors.
The 21-year-old kept improving throughout the match, winning back-to-back service games to love. She then struck an unreturned forehand to close up the opening set after coming back from a 4-2 deficit to lead 5-4.
Raducanu controlled the second set and applied pressure on the Bouzkova serve. She broke the other player in a close third game of the set and held on to love in the following to get closer to the win.
Bouzkova dropped all three of her service games and finished with 15 wins against Raducanu’s 23. Raducanu put on perhaps her best effort since returning from injury to secure an outstanding victory.
When Radcuanu takes on Jabeur, she will want to win her first match against a player ranked in the top 10 and advance to the event’s quarterfinals for the first time this year.
Raducanu’s last match was scheduled to start on Monday at 3 p.m. UK time on the Stadium Court, but it was postponed for several hours because of earlier matches that went longer than anticipated.
“Today, I warmed up so many times!” stated Raducanu following her triumph. It was a somewhat lengthy wait because I had been here since two in the afternoon.
“I believe that at first I was just getting used to the court’s speed. I was still getting used to the court because I hadn’t played here yet this year.
It was a different tempo because it was fairly swift and much more still than it had been all week due to the extreme wind.
“Marie is an extremely formidable foe. I was aware going in that I would have to play a lot of balls, and although I believe I missed a few of the closing strokes in the beginning, I fixed that, so I’m satisfied.
