WOW. 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu, still 21yo, beats world #5 and Berlin champion Jessica Pegula 4-6, 7-6(6), 7-5, from match point down, for her FIRST CAREER top 10 win! Into the QFs in Eastbourne. What a win!
Emphatic Emma Raducanu seals superb Jessica Pegula win at Eastbourne International in maiden top 10 triumph
WTAWednesday, 26 June 2024 at 18:40
Emma Raducanu is into the Quarter-Finals of the 2024 Eastbourne International continuing her excellent run thus far on the grass with her biggest win yet on the surface defeating World No.5, Jessica Pegula 4-6, 7-6, 7-5 with a nail biting final set decider win over the American.
Pegula who herself has just come off winning in Berlin last week and has been on the comeback trail will likely be pleased to not be playing three weeks on the spin. Raducanu reached the semi-finals in Nottingham where she lost to Katie Boulter and now faces Daria Kasatkina or Yue Yuan for a spot in the semi-finals.
Superb against Sloane Stephens yesterday and in serving it out today against Pegula, she weathered some adversity but she got over the line in a win that will mean so much.
Now she is into the last eight alongside two other Brits too in Harriet Dart and the aforementioned Katie Boulter in a superb week for the home spectators as well as Raducanu herself.
After taking such a gamble in order to play on the surface snubbing Roland Garros to prepare for the grass court season, she is reaping the rewards with her first ever top 10 win and her biggest triumph yet on the grass. With Kasatkina or Yue Yuan next, it is a big chance for further strides to be reached this week and head into Wimbledon full of confidence. Writing messages this week of at my own pace and fresh start on the camera, it has given an insight into how Raducanu wants to run her own career now that she has battled injury and the increasing media scrutiny which came with her remarkable US Open run three years ago.
But at the age of just 21, she has shown that there is very much still the talent there that propelled her to that title and not the flash in the pan status that some have given her following her sharp rise to fame.
Raducanu rallied as she aimed went from losing the first set and being seemingly on course to going out to gritting it out to a third. She broke serve at 3-3 in the second and continued to eek out her lead holding serve at every juncture. Albeit she did get taken the distance to a tie-break, she had a set point and was levelled at 5-5 instead of claiming it 6-4 and again had to come back. She was 3-0 down and had to then survive match point after losing her serve. But she reversed it and sealed it 8-6.
The final set saw Raducanu take a 3-1 and 5-2 lead against the American but she simply couldn't serve it out. She was broken when serving for it twice and had to rely on a win or bust game instead of it going to a tiebreak. She went 40-0 down against Pegula but a few unreturnable serves and determination saw her bring up match point and she took her first opportunity to seal the win.
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