Advertisement

WOMEN'S WRAP, DAY 6: Rybakina routs Raducanu to advance at US Open

football30 August 2025 04:21| © AFP
Share
article image
Elena Rybakina @ Getty Images

Former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina demolished Britain's Emma Raducanu to reach the fourth round of the US Open for the first time on Friday.

The Moscow-born ninth seed from Kazakhstan, whose previous best result in New York was a pair of third round appearances, overpowered Raducanu to win 6-1, 6-2 in one hour two minutes.

"Throughout the whole years, for some reason the US Open wasn't a success for me but hopefully this year that will change," Rybakina said in her on-court interview.

The unseeded Raducanu, the 2021 US Open champion, had looked in confident form en route to Friday's clash with Rybakina on the Louis Armstrong Stadium showcourt.

But the 22-year-old was in trouble from the outset against Rybakina, the Kazakh breaking her serve right away to seize the early advantage.

Raducanu had no answer to Rybakina's superior power as the Kazakh reeled off a series of thumping forehand winners before completing a convincing win.

Rybakina is playing in New York with controversial coach Stefano Rukov restored to her viewing box after the WTA lifted a suspension against the Croat earlier this month.

Vukov had been barred from attending all tournaments by the WTA after being found to have breached the tour's code of conduct.

He had been fired by Rybakina just before last year's US Open, and subsequently bombarded the player with requests to return which left her fearing for her safety according to details of a WTA investigation reported by The Athletic.

Vukov was banned for a year in January after the WTA ruled he had engaged in "abuse of authority and abusive behaviour" towards Rybakina.

However Rybakina subsequently reunited with Vukov, who has coached her this season between events.

He was allowed to return to courtside at the Cincinnati Open after successfully appealing against his suspension.

SABALENKA EXTENDS TIE-BREAK STREAK, DOWNS FERNANDEZ

World No 1 Aryna Sabalenka advanced to the fourth round of the US Open on Friday after extending her remarkable streak of tie-break victories to defeat Canada's Leylah Fernandez.

Reigning champion Sabalenka punched her ticket to the last 16 after seeing off Fernandez 6-3, 7-6 (7/2) in one hour 39 minutes on the Louis Armstrong Stadium.

Sabalenka's decisive second set victory was capped by her 18th consecutive tie-break win.

The victory was also sweet revenge for Sabalenka, who suffered an upset defeat to then teenager Fernandez in the semifinals of the 2021 US Open.

"I wanted this revenge badly," Sabalenka said afterwards. "It was a tough lesson for me back then. Since then, we never played again.

"I just wanted to prove to myself that the lesson was learned and that I developed as a player and I could get this win."

Sabalenka attributes her dominance of tie-breaks this season to a tougher mental approach.

"I definitely think that mentally I'm pretty strong, and I'm still growing, because I'm learning a lot of lessons, and all of those lessons making me tougher, tougher, and tougher," she said.

Asked if she believed her opponents were aware of her tie-break record, she replied: "I hope so. I'm not focusing on that during the match, obviously. But extra pressure on my opponents? I love that."

The skilful Fernandez, the 31st seed, had started brightly, earning four break points on Sabalenka's opening service game of the first set.

Crucially though Sabalenka saved them all before holding, and then took advantage in the fourth game when Fernandez double-faulted to hand the Belarusian a break for a 3-1 lead.

That break was all Sabalenka needed to close out the set.

A tense second set saw Fernandez continue to cause problems for Sabalenka, who again was forced to fight off a break point in the sixth game.

But when the set went to a decisive tie-break, there only ever looked like being one winner, with Sabalenka scoring three mini-breaks in rapid succession to help open up a 4-1 lead.

That soon became 6-1 and Sabalenka sealed a win that sees her into a fourth round showdown with unseeded Spaniard Cristina Bucsa.

Advertisement