Emma Raducanu goes down swinging in thrilling loss to Aryna Sabalenka

Irish Examiner

19 hours ago

Emma Raducanu reminded the tennis world what a special talent she is before her Wimbledon hopes were ended with a narrow loss to world number one Aryna Sabalenka.
The 22-year-old played some electrifying tennis under the roof on Centre Court but was unable to apply the finishing touches, eventually going down 7-6 (6) 6-4 after exactly two hours.
The first set alone took 74 minutes, with Raducanu saving seven set points and creating one of her own, while she led 4-1 in the second before Sabalenka recovered to set up a fourth-round clash with Elise Mertens.
Raducanu will now drop to British number three behind Katie Boulter and Sonay Kartal, who is the last home woman left in singles, but that will not be the case for long if she can maintain this level.
The former US Open champion has made it her goal to close the gap to the world's best and, having lost twice heavily to Iga Swiatek in the other two grand slams this year, she can feel very differently after her performance here.
'She played such incredible tennis and she pushed me really hard to get this win,' said Sabalenka. 'I fight for every point like crazy.
'What an atmosphere, my ears are still hurting. I was telling myself, just pretend they're cheering for you, and I was having goosebumps.'
Unlike Jack Draper, Raducanu is naturally at home on grass, with her exceptional ability to take the ball early, particularly on return, mitigating her lack of pure power.
She gave Sabalenka a decent run for her money in their only previous meeting, in Indian Wells last spring, and a clean return winner off a second serve in the opening game showed the Belarusian that she very much meant business.
Raducanu played an almost flawless match to beat former champion Marketa Vondrousova in the second round and, although this was a very different prospect, the 22-year-old once more appeared calm and clear-minded.
She had the top seed under pressure again in the fifth game, bringing up three more break points and taking the third when Sabalenka netted a backhand.
That was greeted by a huge roar from the packed stands, but Raducanu then made her first missteps serving at 4-3 to hand the advantage back amid a run of eight points in a row for Sabalenka.
A forehand winner played from virtually sitting down by Raducanu earned a clap from Sabalenka but too many errors had crept into the home favourite's game and a netted forehand gave her opponent a first set point.
She saved that with an ace, and Sabalenka remarkably missed backhands on every one of six more opportunities before Raducanu finally held in one of Centre Court's more memorable games.
It seemed impossible for it not to be a key moment, and Sabalenka had a face of thunder after watching two Raducanu passing shots fly beyond her reach.
Concern replaced cheers when Raducanu suffered a nasty slip in retrieving a short ball, briefly staying down clutching her left hip before gingerly getting to her feet.
It did not stop her creating two break points, though, and Sabalenka overhit a backhand to leave her opponent serving for the set.
This time Sabalenka did not let Raducanu off the hook, forcing a tie-break, where a drive volley hooked wide of an open court at 5-4 looked like it might have cost the world number one when she then netted a return to give Raducanu a first set point.
But Sabalenka saved it in style with a drop shot before finally taking her eighth opportunity, this time making no mistake at the net.
It was important for Raducanu to recover from the disappointment quickly, and she did, producing two strong holds of serve and taking advantage of a dip from Sabalenka to move 4-1 ahead in the second set.
Sabalenka has been far and away the best player in the world over the last year but suddenly she was struggling to live with Raducanu, who played a series of sublime points to create a chance to win a fourth game in a row only to just miss with a forehand.
Had she taken it, a deciding set was most certainly on the cards, but Sabalenka, who is the only top-six seed left in the tournament, barged the door wide open and charged through it, reeling off five games in a row.