Emma Raducanu ended her losing run in style with a straight-sets victory over Greece’s Maria Sakkari in the Dubai Duty Free Championships.
Raducanu came into the match on the worst run of results in her career, having lost four successive matches. But the former US Open champion made the ideal start with a break of serve in the opening game and rounded off a 6-4, 6-2 victory in fine fashion with her third ace of the 90-minute contest.
“I just tried to stay really focused on the point in front of me,” Raducanu said. “There were some momentum shifts throughout the match and when I got broken twice early in the sets I just regrouped really well and I managed to break back [immediately] both times.
“I was really pleased with how I fought and competed against Maria, she’s a top player, been as high as three in the world. I’m just really proud of my performance.”
Raducanu has now won all three of her matches against Sakkari without dropping a set, including in the US Open semi-finals in 2021 and last year at Wimbledon.
“I think in a way we play quite similar, she’s really athletic,” Raducanu said when asked about her 100% record. “I’m not necessarily going to give all my tactics away, it’s just a very difficult match every time we play so I’m happy to have won on all these occasions in all big tournaments and very happy to get through to the next round.”
Raducanu had failed to capitalise on wildcard entries into tournaments in Abu Dhabi and Doha in the past two weeks, losing in the first round both times to Marketa Vondrousova and Ekaterina Alexandrova respectively.
Those losses followed another first-round defeat against Cristina Bucsa in Singapore and a hammering by Iga Swiatek after she had reached the third round of the Australian Open for the first time.
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The 22-year-old will face Karolina Muchova in the last 32 after the 14th seed beat Suzan Lamens 6-2, 6-2.
