Emma Raducanu will attempt to defeat world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka for the first time at the Cincinnati Masters on Monday with assistance from her new Spanish coach.
The British No. 1, who has received a bonus ahead of the U.S. Open, secured a rematch of their Wimbledon encounter with a dominant victory over Olga Danilovic in her debut match alongside her new coach, Francis Roig.
During the third round at SW19 last month, Raducanu held a point to establish a 5-1 advantage in the second set beneath the Centre Court roof before falling 7-6, 6-4 to Sabalenka, who has made an odd demand ahead of their latest meeting.
Raducanu has failed to claim a set from the current U.S. Open champion across their two prior encounters.
Raducanu, who has climbed to world No. 34 in the live rankings while pursuing a seeding for New York, explained: “I’m reasonable enough, and I guess honest enough with myself, to know that different surfaces favor different people, and where my game is at in comparison.
“So, I think the grass gave me a bit of an advantage (against Sabalenka), but we’ll see how it goes.”
Raducanu’s 6-3, 6-2 triumph over world No. 43 Danilovic extends her impressive 19-4 record against lower-ranked opponents during the past year.
Her struggles have emerged against elite competition, prompting her to recruit Rafa Nadal’s former coach Roig as her eighth full-time mentor to bridge this divide.
“When I play the really top players where I can’t run and scrap, wait on them to miss,” she acknowledged. “I think that’s where I need to improve.
“And yeah, I’m hoping he can help me with that. There were four or five points (against Danilovic) where I did something that we were working on, and it’s always really satisfying and rewarding when you hit a shot and you’ve worked on it in practice.
“So I think I’m going to improve a lot, hopefully doing the work day in, day out.”