Emphatic Emma Raducanu wins at US Open for first time since 2021 New York triumph

Emma Raducanu is back in the winners' circle for the first time since the historic 2021 triumph that started it all for the Brit and she is very much a more well rounded player compared to previous years and that showed.

Raducanu has been working for the past year with Mark Petchey who has managed to get some of the best form out of her after a stop start foray due to injuries and fitness. She was heavily criticised for not making full use of the calendar on her return saying that she wanted to do it on her terms.

But this year it has been more matches that she should be winning that she now does and in style instead of being embroiled in a battle. She faced Ena Shibahara, a qualifier from Japan in the opening round. She had emphatically seen off Varvara Gracheva in the last round who reached the latter stages in Cincinnati and was sixth seed in qualifying.

But in the end Raducanu was too good and brought her own impetus instead of falling into the impetus of her opponent's form this past week. It is also one of the first tournaments with her new coach. Mark Petchey's broadcast commitments made it a bit impossible to keep him full time as he is one of the most prominent pundits and commentators for Tennis Channel.

Onto Roig and into Round Two

But instead she turned to Francisco Roig who famously coached Rafael Nadal to unlock even more out of her game. It wasn't evident in Cincinnati in regards to results but in pushing Aryna Sabalenka again it was. She has often said that she wants to close the gap between herself and the big names and she is doing so more and more.

In Canada she lost to Amanda Anisimova previously after a semi-final run in Washington but doing it when it counts is what matters. She won 6-1, 6-2 today. Serving incredibly well, she was 80% of first serve points won. She saved the sole break point in Shibahara's favour and won 64% of her second serves. The unforced error count was also the difference for her opponent. She hit 12 winners but an alarming stat was the 34 unforced errors on her racket back. Raducanu in comparison hit six all match compared to seven winners.

Veronika Kudermetova will be the likely opponent for Raducanu next while Elena Rybakina is the potential seed lying in wake. She faces Julieta Pareja in the first round then potentially Lucia Bronzetti or Tereza Valentova. They sit in a potential open section if Pegula or Paolini lose early on as they sit together in the draw and have been susceptible to early upsets.

Aryna Sabalenka who faces Rebeka Masarova tonight too has her opponent if she gets through and that is Polina Kudermetova, youngster sister of Veronika who faces Raducanu. She got through first in the draw after Nuria Parrizas Diaz retired after a medical time out. Then potentially Leylah Fernandez is the third round for Sabalenka, she also plays tonight.

But for Raducanu in her first win since 2021 at Flushing Meadows, it is very much job done.

Match Statistics Raducanu vs. Shibahara