EMMA RADUCANU claimed she is targeted by top players after suffering a 62-minute defeat to Elena Rybakina to crash out of the US Open. The British No.2 set new records for her quickest Grand Slams in her opening two rounds against qualifiers.
But the 2021 champion here set a new unwanted mark for her most rapid defeat when she went down 6-1 6-1 to the No.9 seed.
Raducanu, 22, has still to beat a top-ten player in a Grand Slam. And this season she had previously lost to to Iga Swiatek (6-1 6-0 in Melbourne and 6-1 6-2 in Paris ) and Sabalenka (7-6 6-4) at Wimbledon.
Asked if she felt she had a target on her back because of her history and top stars want to play their best tennis against her, the world No.36 said: “Yeah, big time. I think when the very top play against me, they have a point to prove that they’re at the top, and they’re there for a reason. I think every time I’ve played one, they’ve kind of shown that.
“So I think at the same time while I’m improving, doing better, gaining maybe some more respect around, I think yeah, the top have definitely raised their game.
“But I’ll take that as a compliment that they’ve decided to really lock in against me, but at the same time it does show I have a lot more work to do.”
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