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Emma Raducanu continued her return to form as she reached the semi-finals of the Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington with a straight-sets victory over Maria Sakkari on Friday.
The British No 1 came from a break down in the second set to beat her Greek opponent 6-4 7-5 and set up a meeting with either fourth seed Clara Tauson or Anna Kalinskaya in the final four.
Raducanu had reclaimed her spot as the top-ranked British woman from Katie Boulter on Thursday when she beat two-time US Open champion Naomi Osaka.
The win takes Raducanu to her first WTA Tour-level semi-final in over a year as she continues her preparations for next month’s US Open, where she won on debut back in 2021.
It arrived on the hottest day of the tournament as temperatures reached the middle 90s, not helped by a back-and-forth contest that took two hours and 10 minutes.
“It was brutal today, thanks to everybody for coming out and sitting in the heat,” said Raducanu of the heat in her on-court interview.
“If you don’t have the abilities your body will fail you, but at some point it becomes mental. The first set was over an hour, it was mental, you have to enjoy suffering, as bad as that sounds, and leave it all out on the court until you drop.
“I felt a little bit wobbly at the back end of the second set.”
Raducanu found herself trailing 0-2 in the opening set after two double faults, before the Brit reeled off the next three games to take control of the match.
A crucial break came at 4-4 to pave the way for her to serve out for the set.
It was Sakkari again who started the brighter in the second set, as much being underlined when she converted a fourth break point to lead 4-2 after seeing Raducanu fire her forehand long.
Raducanu sought an immediate response only to squander two break point opportunities, with Sakkari producing two aces to leave herself within one game of sending the match to a decider.
With doubles on the horizon later in the day, Raducanu wanted no part of a three-set epic. The 22-year-old held to close the gap, before then converting a fourth break point to claw her way back to 5-4 while on serve.
Raducanu then received treatment in between games as the physio was called to check her heart rate, such were the scorching conditions in Washington.
But she wouldn’t be deterred, holding to love to level the set at 5-5 and then clinching the next two games to complete a stunning turnaround.
“I think it’s (her confidence) been building since Miami, I’ve been doing a lot of good work and little by little as you get a few results you build some confidence,” she added.
“Also the amount of work I’m doing behind the scenes, having that in the locker you know you’ve done it and it takes some pressure off the results.
“Maria played an incredible match, these conditions really suit her so I’m happy to have toughed it out.”
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