Emma Raducanu Blitzes Sloane Stephens In Stunning Aussie Start!
Australian Open
January 18, 2022
Emma Raducanu has demonstrated once more her uncanny ability to bring her very best tennis to the biggest tournaments of all.
She defeated former US Open champion Sloane Stephens with awesome power and desire.
The pressurised Grand Slam atmosphere seems to suit Raducanu down to the ground!
And we’re so delighted for the world’s favourite young female tennis player.
Emma Raducanu can go far at Wimbledon 2022. She could even win it!
The Bromley-based teenager wore Wimbledon white in her explosive Melbourne debut.
Now we can’t wait to see her at Wimbledon 2022. The entire UK and wider world will be cheering her on.
Do you want to be one of the lucky few on Centre Court this summer?
Everyone wants to see her play but there are only so many seats to go around.
Would you like to come to the front of the queue with us?
The welcome home for our BBC Sports Personality of the Year will be rapturous indeed!
Raducanu did brilliantly to reach the second week at Wimbledon last year.
Then she shocked the world by winning the US Open.
Recently she had struggled to recapture her best form while adapting to her newfound celebrity status.
And there were concerns for Emma when she was matched up with another Flushing Meadows champion, Sloane Stephens in the Australian Open first round.
We needn’t have worried on her behalf.
World superstardom hadn’t thrown Raducanu off track for long at all!
She took just seventeen minutes to take the first set 6-0 against the respected American. And she only made four unforced errors during that extraordinary romp.
But the match wasn’t all plain sailing. Stephens showed her talent and timing in the second set to hit back 6-2.
At that point the young Brit’s fate was very much in the balance.
Anyone who thought Raducanu was on her way out simply underestimated her extraordinary fighting spirit, though.
Through sheer force of will she seized the momentum once more and found fresh aggression to go with her increasingly dogged defence.
It was a winning combination. Emma rattled off the first five games of the deciding set without reply.
It wasn’t quite as easy as it looked, however. The Super Brit had to summon her inner warrior to prevail in some startling exchanges.
And when Stephens finally won her first game then saved two match points, you wondered whether a comeback was still possible for her.
But Raducanu was having none of it. She clinched the contest with a magical change of pace and an impossible angled slice.
Sloane was outwitted at last and the match over. The player with the most mental strength had advanced and rightly so.
This was a quite mesmerising win for Britain’s new super-hero.
We’re counting down the days until she plays her home Slam.
Wimbledon 2022 will be a fitting stage for amazing Emma Raducanu.
After her victory in Australia Emma still seemed very composed, given what she had achieved.
She said: ‘I just want to thank everyone for coming out and staying so late.
‘Me and Sloane put everything out there and I’m very happy to have come through against such a great champion like that.
‘I was having to work extremely hard for my points but I’m so happy to have come through.
‘I thought I played some very good tennis in the first set and made very few unforced errors.
‘There’s always going to be adversity but I regrouped and focused on getting every ball between the lines.’
And the extraordinary thing is, she can improve on this display.
In the second set she produced some wild hitting beyond those lines, at times when she could have been more patient.
And there were six double faults in all, including at match point.
With a little bit more composure in building a point, and by making sure that second serve finds its mark, Raducanu could earn herself even more success.
Waiting for her in the next round of the Australian Open is Danka Kovinic of Montenegro. Raducanu will start as heavy favourite and that may not suit her.
But if she continues to improve on this brilliant display, then Emma will progress even further.
Above all Emma Raducanu has reminded us what awaits the fans at Wimbledon 2022.
There may never be a more special Wimbledon than this one.
A perfect moment in time.
And you can be there with our help!
Click here to secure your tickets to the next Wimbledon Championships.