Even as daylight began to fade on Tuesday evening across the vast Cincinnati Open tournament grounds and the other courts emptied, Emma Raducanu was not yet ready to end her workday. The start of competition in Mason, Ohio also marked her first day of training with her new coach Francisco Roig. She was determined to make the most of it.
Having already trained in the afternoon, Raducanu and Roig spent the evening working quietly through each shot in her game. Alongside ample technical conversations about her groundstrokes and second serve, there was also plenty of laughter as the pair began the task of learning more about each other and how their personalities match. Only a furious evening downpour forced them off the court.
While many of Raducanu’s numerous coaching changes have come during difficult moments in her career, this is rather a hopeful occasion. This tournament is something of a milestone for Raducanu, who has earned a seeding of No 30 in a reflection of the consistent training and match wins that have allowed her to rebuild her ranking over the past few months. Now No 27 in the WTA Race with few points to defend until the end of the year, she has a great opportunity to finish even higher and make an impression at the US Open later this month.
As she has built confidence in her game, Raducanu has performed well against mid-ranked players, but it is also clear the current iteration of her game has a ceiling. She has consistently looked underpowered against the biggest shotmakers and she is not quite quick enough to frustrate them with her defensive capabilities. After following up her semi-final run in Washington with two wins in Montreal, this was further reinforced by her 6-2, 6-1 defeat against the recent Wimbledon finalist Amanda Anisimova in the third round last week. The challenge for Raducanu and Roig over the coming months will be to see how she can use her abilities to test the best players in the world.
Her tournament will begin on Saturday afternoon with a tough match against Olga Danilovic of Serbia, who scuppered a potential all-British second-round match by defeating a struggling Katie Boulter 6-0, 7-5 on Thursday. Should Raducanu win, she could face the world No 1, Aryna Sabalenka, in the third round on Monday.
With so many top players opting out of the first weeks of the US hard-court swing, Cincinnati marks a significant moment in the buildup to the US Open as many of the main contenders attempt to build their form for the final grand slam tournament of the year. While Sabalenka is competing for the first time since a brief mid-season break, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz will also return to competition for the first time since their Wimbledon final last month. After 18-year-old Victoria Mboko’s incredible triumph in Toronto on Thursday night, she and the beaten finalist, Naomi Osaka, have already withdrawn from Cincinnati.
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Elsewhere, Sonay Kartal struggled in her first match since her run to the Wimbledon fourth round last month, losing 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 to Caroline Garcia early on Friday. Although Garcia, a former world No 4 and the 2022 champion in Cincinnati, is a player with significant pedigree, this was a disappointing performance from Kartal, who struck just 14 winners and 44 unforced errors against an opponent who is retiring from professional tennis in the coming months.
