Emma Raducanu has ensured she is set for a significant rise in the WTA Rankings as she progressed to the semi-finals of the 2025 Citi Open.
The 22-year-old downed world No 90 Maria Sakkari 6-4, 7-5 in the quarter-finals of the WTA 500 tournament in Washington on Friday.
Raducanu fought back from 2-5 down in the second set and had her heart rate checked during a medical timeout late in the match as temperatures soared.
She now holds a 4-0 record against Sakkari, a 30-year-old Greek who has been ranked as high as third.
The Brit is through to her first hard-court semi-final since the 2022 Seoul Open, and she has achieved it without dropping a set in her three victories. She saw off Mata Kostyuk in the opening round and Naomi Osaka in the second round.
Raducanu has now won 21 WTA Tour matches in 2025 — her highest-ever tally in a season (excluding matches in team competitions).
With the 195 points she has gained for making the last four in the US capital, Raducanu has climbed 14 places in the Live WTA Rankings from 46th to 32nd. This will be Raducanu’s highest ranking position since August 2022 — just before the points from her 2021 US Open title dropped.
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If Raducanu can maintain a top 32 ranking until the US Open, she will be seeded, which increases her chances of having a favourable draw in the early rounds.
The former world No 10 will face 48th-ranked Anna Kalinskaya in the semi-finals on Saturday. It will be her first encounter with the 26-year-old Russian.
Raducanu will jump to 29th place if she reaches the final, while she could ascend to as high as 26th if she claims the title. She is aiming to reach her first final since winning the US Open almost four years ago and seeking her second career title.
In her on-court interview after beating Sakkari, Raducanu addressed the challenge of playing in the stifling Washington heat.
“It was brutal today,” Raducanu said. “Thanks to everyone for coming out and sitting through the heat.
“It’s incredibly difficult playing, but when I’ve sat and watched matches in the heat, when you’re not moving in the seat, it’s even harder.
“It’s for sure physical, because if you don’t have the abilities then your body will fail you. But at a certain point, it then becomes mental. I knew after the first or second game, it was such a long match, the first set was over an hour.
“It is mental and you just have to enjoy suffering, as bad as that sounds, you just know you have to leave it all out on the court until you probably drop. I felt a little bit wobbly at the back end of the second set.”
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