Wang Xinyu beats Emma Raducanu at Linz Open for first top 20 win
- ‘I thought that Xinyu played extremely well, especially the first set,’ says US Open champion as season ends in Austria
- China’s world No 106 moves on to former top 20 player Alison Riske in singles quarter-finals
China’s Wang Xinyu ended US Open champion Emma Raducanu’s season with an epic victory at the Upper Austria Ladies Linz Open in Austria, her first top 20 win coming in the same week that she reached a career-high ranking.
“I really felt the passion here,” Wang said on court at the TipsArena Linz after her thrilling win. “It’s also my first time here, I really enjoy playing this tournament.”
It started off easily for the Chinese No 4 as Wang won the first set 6-1 against the top-seeded world No 20 but the British No 1 Raducanu took the second set 7-6 on a tiebreak, which she blitzed 7-0.
The decisive third set was almost as tight as the second, with 20-year-old Wang edging it 7-5 from the 18-year-old, who turns 19 later this week. Victory took more than two and a half hours.
Wang wasted two match points when serving at 5-4 in the third set but tried to put them out of her mind, she said.
“I always try to believe in myself and always try to focus on this point, right now, and just enjoying the match,” Wang said after the match.
Former China No 1 Wang Qiang drops out of WTA Top 100
Raducanu levelled at 5-5 but Wang broke for a second successive game to edge 6-5 ahead and then served for the match.
Wang has risen to a career high No 106 in the world this week after a late season surge following her return to the tour following the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and the China National Games.
Former world No 2 junior Wang has more WTA tour experience than Raducanu, who skipped most junior commitments and burst on to the scene this season with her run at Wimbledon and then winning against the odds in New York.
“A lot has happened this year,” Raducanu said after the match. “Where I was in January, February, March, I would have taken it. I have learned how much room I have to develop physically and what playing on the tour week in, week out actually needs because clearly my body is still trying to get up to speed. I was honestly quite happy with the level I put out and tried to fight back.”
The US Open champion struggled with injury at times during the marathon match but she was gracious in defeat, praising Wang.
“I thought that it was a really high level match. I thought that Xinyu played extremely well, especially the first set. I’m proud of the way that I performed to try and get back in the match when everything was going her way and she was playing extremely well,” Raducanu said.
It was Raducanu’s opening game in Linz, while Wang had to come through qualifying and victory marks the first time she has beaten a top 20 opponent in her career.
She now faces Alison Riske – a former top 20 player – in the quarters after the No 8 seeded American beat Alize Cornet 6-4 6-4.
Wang is also in the doubles where she and China’s No 2 player Zheng Saisai face the Russian duo Ekaterina Alexandrova and Yana Sizikova in the quarter-finals.
