{"id":58633,"date":"2025-08-10T22:54:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T22:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/58633\/"},"modified":"2025-08-10T22:54:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T22:54:11","slug":"raducanu-ready-for-fact-finding-match-against-sabalenka-at-cincinnati-open-tennis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/58633\/","title":{"rendered":"Raducanu ready for \u2018fact-finding match\u2019 against Sabalenka at Cincinnati Open | Tennis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Emma Raducanu has underlined her excitement before what she describes as a \u201cfact-finding match\u201d against the world No\u00a01, Aryna Sabalenka<\/a>, as they prepare to battle in the third round of the Cincinnati Open on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always exciting for a player like me to play the very top, because it\u2019s like a fact-finding match,\u201d \u00adRaducanu said. \u201cYou see where you are in \u00adcomparison to the top. I also think form fluctuates so much on\u00a0the day. You can lose two and one [6-2, 6-1] one day, you can win or you can\u00a0make it close the next day, and it\u00a0can be down to a few points. So I\u2019m\u00a0excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

It will be Raducanu\u2019s first \u00adsignificant match since \u00adstarting work with her new coach, Francisco Roig,<\/a> last week in Cincinnati.<\/p>\n

Last month she played one of her best matches<\/a> against a top player in making life difficult for Sabalenka at Wimbledon in two tight sets. After serving for the first set and then later holding a set point against the \u00adBelarusian, Raducanu led 4-1 in the second set before losing 7-6 (6), 6-4.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe played incredible tennis,\u201d Sabalenka said of the British player after her straight-sets win against Marketa Vondrousova on Saturday night. \u201cI\u2019m super happy to see her mentally and physically back, and definitely gonna be back in the top 10 very soon. She challenged me that much, and I like to accept tough \u00adchallenges, so I\u2019m super excited about facing her on the hard courts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raducanu gave an honest response when asked if she left Centre Court at Wimbledon determined to have another crack at Sabalenka as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say I thought I\u2019d love to have another crack at that\u00a0on grass, like tomorrow,\u201d she said, \u00adlaughing. \u201cBut I know, and I\u2019m honestly reasonable enough, and, I guess, honest enough in myself to know that different surfaces favour different people and where my game is at in comparison. I think the grass gave me a bit of an advantage but we\u2019ll see how it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raducanu has enjoyed a positive run of form in recent months while training and competing consistently on the tour and she could be seeded for the US Open. However, while she has \u00adperformed well in the matches she has been favoured to win, the lessons from most of her previous encounters against the top players have been that her general level has simply not been good enough.<\/p>\n

In their first few days working together, Raducanu and Roig will at least get a clear \u00adunderstanding of exactly where she stands in \u00adcomparison to the very best.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Cameron Norrie struggled badly in 33C (91F) heat and humid conditions as he lost 6-4, 6-3 against Roberto Bautista Agut in the second round.<\/p>\n

After trailing the 37-year-old Spaniard by an early break, Norrie had appeared to be finding his way when he suddenly began to feel sick. Despite fighting hard until the end, he spent the rest of the match clutching his chest and barely able to move on the court: \u201c[In the] 5-4 game I started to feel like I wanted to throw up,\u201d said Norrie. \u201cMaybe it\u2019s the heat, I don\u2019t know. I went to the bathroom and threw everything up after the first set and I was still not feeling good. And I had no energy in the second set.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Cameron Norrie struggled in the heat in losing to Roberto Bautista Agut. Photograph: Matthew Stockman\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Seeded 32nd in Cincinnati, Norrie has been in great form over the past few months, following up his fourth round finish at the French Open with a quarter-final run at Wimbledon. Norrie had hoped to maintain his momentum on the North American hard courts, his favourite surface, but he has instead struggled in each tournament. Norrie\u2019s physicality is usually one of his biggest strengths, which has made these results even more frustrating.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point, I don\u2019t know what to say,\u201d said Norrie. \u201cWe\u2019re trying everything. We\u2019re using the ice. We\u2019re changing shirts and changing grips all the time. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s that hot, like it\u2019s hot but it\u2019s not crazy. I\u2019m just not sure why my body is not letting me play. It must be mental too, because I\u2019m really good in the heat, and I have such high expectations for myself to do well in the heat. So I guess maybe I need to lower those expectations now.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his first match since losing in the Wimbledon final to Jannik Sinner last month, the men\u2019s No 2 seed Carlos Alcaraz held firm in the decisive moments against Damir Dzumhur despite a turbulent performance to reach the third round in Cincinnati with a 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 win. Coco Gauff, the women\u2019s No 2 seed, eased into the third round with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Wang Xinyu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Emma Raducanu has underlined her excitement before what she describes as a \u201cfact-finding match\u201d against the world No\u00a01,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58634,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":{"0":"post-58633","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}