Emma Raducanu was knocked out within the third spherical of the US Open as she misplaced in straight units to a rampant Elena Rybakina on Friday.
The 2021 Flushing Meadows champion has teased a return to rivalry in latest months however was unable to tame the ability of former Wimbledon champion Rybakina, who raced to a 6-1 6-2 win in little over an hour.
Rybakina will now advance to face both 2024 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova or Italian seventh seed Jasmine Paolini.
It concludes one other event through which there have been but extra constructive indicators for Raducanu, who has impressed through the laborious courtroom season after seeing her progress marred by merciless harm setbacks lately.
In reaching the final 16 it marks a career-best efficiency on the US Open for Rybakina having by no means earlier than made it past the third spherical.
“Really happy with the performance, it’s not easy playing against Emma,” stated Rybakina in her on-court interview.
“The rating does not present, she’s a troublesome competitor and I am proud of how I performed and searching ahead to the subsequent match.
“Throughout the years for some reason the US Open wasn’t successful for me but hopefully that changes this year and hopefully I can go as far as possible.”
Construct-up had centred round Raducanu’s capability to neutralise the serving energy coming her means, with Rybakina having asserted herself as one of many dominant forces from the baseline on tour.
What beckoned as a gruelling battle proved precisely that as Rybakina recorded a primary serve win share of 82 whereas crunching in 11 winners on her method to successful the primary set 6-1.
Raducanu had sought to assault the marginally extra predictable and high-bouncing second serve of her opponent, just for Rybakina to win eight of 14 second serve factors.
The second set then acquired off to a nightmare begin for Raducanu when she squandered a 40-0 lead on serve to give up an instantaneous break in what would set the tone for the rest of the match.
With each glimpse of a Raducanu second got here a fierce Rybakina response, the latter successful 90 per cent of first serve factors and 70 per cent of second serve factors whereas denying the Brit a single break level in a complete second set.
Whereas a disappointing exit for Raducanu, it additionally represented the efficiency of a agency favorite to clinch the title at this 12 months’s US Open.
Rybakina – who lately reached the semi-finals in Cincinnati, Montreal and Washington DC – strikes onto the second week of a Grand Slam for the tenth time as she seeks her second main crown.
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