Emma Raducanu stated she’s “grateful to have shared the court” with “inspirational” Serena Williams as she thrashed the tennis legend of their first-ever assembly.
Raducanu gained 6-4, 6-0 within the first spherical on the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati – the primary time the ladies have performed one another.
It follows Williams revealing earlier this month that she is “evolving away from tennis”, with the US Open in just a few weeks anticipated to be her closing event.
Raducanu placed on a elegant efficiency to wrap up the match in simply over an hour, taking the second set to like.
There is a 20-year age hole between the 2 ladies and Williams gained her first grand slam in 1999, three years earlier than her British opponent was born.
“We all need to just honour Serena and her amazing career,” Raducanu instructed the group after her win.
“I’m so grateful for the experience to have been able to play her and for our careers to have crossed over. Everything she has achieved is so inspirational and it was a true to honour to share the court with her.”
The win also needs to give her confidence within the subsequent spherical towards Victoria Azarenka – and going into the US Open, the event she sensationally gained final 12 months.
The 19-year-old has did not get close to that efficiency at subsequent grand slams and misplaced within the second spherical at Wimbledon this summer time.
Williams followers can nonetheless cling to the fairytale risk she may do one thing particular at Flushing Meadows, however the odds are firmly towards the 40-year-old including to her 23 grand slams.
Revealing her plans to name time on her profession, she wrote in Vogue: “I feel a great deal of pain. It’s the hardest thing that I could ever imagine. I hate it.”
“I have never liked the word retirement. It doesn’t feel like a modern word to me,” she added.
“Maybe the best word to describe what I’m up to is evolution. I’m here to tell you that I’m evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me.”
Source: information.sky.com”