Emma Raducanu’s Wimbledon dream ended in glorious failure thanks to the ruthless power and precision of Aryna Sabalenka. Raducanu’s ride towards what she hoped would be the fourth round came to a brave halt, despite a 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 straight sets defeat on Centre Court. But not without one heck of a fight.
A meeting between the British No.1 and world No.1 was never going to end well for the former. Both of Raducanu’s Grand Slam appearances this season had ended in brutal fashion. She won one game at the Australian Open, and then three at the French.
But this loss wasn’t even close to being humiliating, with Raducanu pushing the tournament favourite to the brink at times, before coming up just short in the crucial moments.
In what was nevertheless still another reminder of how far she still has to go to get back to the giddy heights of winning the tournaments that matter the most.
Astronaut Tim Peake had been in the Royal Box, which felt ironic, considering Sabalenka looked out out of this world at times.
This had felt like an intriguing match up, not least because Raducanu had shown signs of some of her best form in the previous round.
That saw her knock out former champion Marketa Vondrousova. But doing the same to Sabalenka was a different challenge altogether.
Raducanu insisted she hadn’t been unfortunate to have landed such a formidable opponent in the third round of the draw.
She’d claimed she wanted to face the best. Now she was, and how she rose to the examination. Sabalenka had reached the last three Grand Slam finals, winning one of them.
And with a host of seeds falling early here at SW19, she sensed a glorious chance to be crowned Wimbledon queen for the first time. But in an epic first set lasting 47 minutes, these two traded blistering blows like a couple of heavyweights in the ring.
And it was Raducanu who landed the first significant punch, breaking Sabalenka’s serve in the fifth game to go 3-2 ahead.
Here she was going toe to toe with the No.1 seed, and coming out on top. At times it was like watching the same Raducanu who stormed to the US Open title in 2021.
Sabalenka knew she was in a scrap. And she wasn’t just fighting Raducanu, but 15,000 of her friends sat in the stands. But Sabalenka is on top of the world for a reason.
She broke back to love and then went 5-4 ahead, winning seven points on the spin the process.
Raducanu refused to buckle though, saving seven set points on her own serve to make it 5-5. The cheer was like she’d won the tournament itself.
She then broke Sabalenka, who duly returned the compliment to take it to a tie-break.
Raducanu forced one set point but couldn’t take it, before Sabalenka emerged triumphant. But instead of fading, Raducanu took the fight to Sabalenka even harder, racing into a 4-1, lead with a point to make it 5-1.
Then the roof that had been closed for this, started to cave in on her.
Sabalenka just refused to be beaten and did what all the greats do – produce when it matters most. Denying Raducanu what had cruelly threatened to be one of the most memorable nights of her life.
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