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 Anna Kalinskaya, who defeated fourth seed Clara Tauson.
The match is live on Sky Sports on Saturday and will follow the opening semi-final between Leylah Fernandez and Elena Rybakina, which is scheduled for 7.30pm.
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.
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It arrived on the hottest day of the tournament as temperatures reached around 35C, 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 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.
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It was Sakkari again who started the brighter in the second set, 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.
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.
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But she would not 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.”
Fernandez – the runner-up when Raducanu won the US Open in 2021 – beat qualifier Taylor Townsend in straight sets to set up a tie with third seed Rybakina, who was too strong for Venus Williams’ conqueror Magdalena Frech.
Raducanu and Rybakina later retired from their doubles semi-final against American Taylor Townsend and Zhang Shuai from China while trailing 4-1 in the opening set.
Home favourite Tiafoe beaten as Medvedev outburst brings boos
In the men’s event, Frances Tiafoe failed to reward the noisy backing of his hometown supporters as he was beaten 7-6 6-3 by fellow American Ben Shelton in the quarter-finals.
Tiafoe served for the opening set at 6-5 but failed to close it out before losing the tie-break, and a double fault at 3-3 in the second gave Shelton the decisive break.
“I love playing against Foe,” said Shelton, who plays Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the last four. “Difficult guy to play against but playing him here in the US, especially being here in DC, it was packed, it was a great atmosphere. I couldn’t be happier.”
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Daniil Medvedev was booed off court after he showed his frustration to losing against Corentin Moutet in the Washington Open quarter-finals by smashing his water bottle
The second semi-final will be between Australia’s Alex de Minaur and lucky loser Corentin Moutet, who overcame cramps to beat Daniil Medvedev 6-1 4-6 4-6, the final game featuring three double faults from the Russian and a frantic match point.
Medvedev reacted to defeat by angrily hurling a water bottle to the ground, drawing jeers from the crowd, while Moutet said: “I was with my coach when we were up 5-4 and I said, ‘OK, I have to win the next game because my body cannot handle too much more’.”
Davidovich Fokina, meanwhile, ended the challenge of top seed Taylor Fritz with a 7-6 3-6 7-6 win.
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