Emma Raducanu shrugged off all the injury doubt with a convening win at Queen’s semifinals.
According to The Guardian, Raducanu returned to Andy Murray Arena for her second match in five hours with lingering doubts about her physical condition after slipping on the slick grass earlier in the day and hurting her left thigh.
By the time she had launched herself into consecutive backhand and forehand down-the-line winners to snatch an early break, that concern was gone.
What followed was one of her very best matches as she dismantled the talented 18-year-old Iva Jovic 6-2, 6-2 in front of home crowd to reach the final here.
Raducanu said, “It means everything to be making the final here and to be making it at home in London. I love London. It’s my home. It’s where I grew up. It’s everything to me. So to be receiving the amount of support that I do here, it’s very emotional, and yeah, I’m just really proud of myself.”
“The whole week I have been playing really, really good tennis and the brand of tennis that I really want to play. I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily the old Emma. I think it’s the new Emma, because you take all the lessons and experience, you know, all the different ups and downs, and you take everything. You understand a lot more what’s going on and what works for you. So I’d say, yeah, I’m back and better,” she added.
This is her third tour-level final, her first being the 2021 US Open and her second coming this year at the WTA 250 event in Cluj, where she lost heavily to Sorana Cirstea.
With wins over world No 18 Cirstea and No 19 Jovic here in consecutive days, at a 500 Event, this is the third time she has defeated two top 20 opponents in a tournament. She is yet to drop a set.
Raducanu in her first grass-court final on Sunday, June 14, will face Croatia's Donna Vekic, who beat British number three Katie Boulter in straight sets.
