Emma Raducanu advanced to the second round at the Transylvania Open on Tuesday, fighting back to win it in three sets for her first WTA victory and first win since the US Open.
First victory on the WTA Tour 🤪🇬🇧 @EmmaRaducanu fights back to reach the last 16 in Cluj-Napoca with a gritty three-set win over Hercog!#TransylvaniaOpen pic.twitter.com/XOr4nZUjGL— wta (@WTA) October 26, 2021
First victory on the WTA Tour 🤪🇬🇧 @EmmaRaducanu fights back to reach the last 16 in Cluj-Napoca with a gritty three-set win over Hercog!#TransylvaniaOpen pic.twitter.com/XOr4nZUjGL
She overcame Polona Hercog of Slovenia, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.
“Polona’s a great opponent, and she’s really experienced, so I really had to fight hard to pull that one through,” Raducanu said in her post-match press conference. “I thought that by the end of the third set, I was playing some better tennis, and the most important thing was I earned another opportunity to go and play better in my next round.”
It’s her first match win since the US Open. Raducanu earned an invitation to the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, where she fell to Aliaksandra Sasnovich in her opening match.
“It feels like a huge win, to be honest,” said Raducanu. “It’s actually my first WTA [event main-draw] win, which makes me very, very happy.”
She’ll take on home favorite Ana Bogdan in the second round.