- Emma Raducanu defeated Elise Mertens 6-1 6-2 at Wimbledon on Wednesday
- The British star produced a dominant performance to advance to the third round
- She said it was an ‘honour’ to partner with Andy Murray in the mixed doubles
After all those difficult and painful months, it would appear that karma wishes to repay a few debts to Emma Raducanu. If ever there was proof of her fortunes swinging to the good, then it was found on Wednesday at these championships.
To go by her own words, a ‘dream came true’ in the morning, when it was confirmed she would pair with Andy Murray for the mixed doubles, before she then sprinted further away from recent nightmares in the evening.
That was demonstrated quite brilliantly in this 75-minute annihilation of Elise Mertens to reach the third round. At times it resembled an act of bullying, such was the quality of a fallen star whose summer form is starting to hint at a sustained revival.
In losing only three games to the Belgian, this was Raducanu’s most one-sided win since that fairytale of New York in 2021, and was close in performance levels to her victory over the world No 5, Jessica Pegula, at Eastbourne a week earlier.
It would be a touch excitable to put Mertens in that bracket, so perspective is necessary, but at No 33 in the world, and top seed in the doubles here, she is no slouch. And yet this was not about the opposition so much as the 21-year-old woman ranked 135th who charged through her.
Raducanu was relentless, which could be applied equally to her serving, groundstrokes and control of the big moments in a match that was closer than the scores suggest. Most of the games were competitive, but almost all of them were bent to Raducanu’s will on Court No 1.
‘I am over the moon to extend my stay by a day,’ said Raducanu, whose focus here is such that she later admitted she had no idea the general election is taking place on Thursday.
‘I think I am playing really good – I knew the hard yards would lead to something and I am reaping the rewards here.’
It was at that point the topic of Murray was brought up. His farewell to Wimbledon had expected to culminate with a doubles collaboration with brother Jamie, but on Tuesday night he texted Raducanu to see if she fancied pairing up. Her deliberations lasted around 10 seconds.
‘I think some things are a once-in-a-lifetime memory,’ Raducanu said. ‘At the end of my life, when I’m like 70, I know I’m going to have that memory of playing Wimbledon with Andy Murray. It was an honour to be asked.
‘This is a dream since I was a young girl. Andy is a hero to all of us. Hopefully I can learn a thing or two.’
If the tale of the past three years tells us anything, it is that Raducanu has already undergone a vast education since the most astonishing of starts. Some of the problems have had more than a whiff of self-creation about them; others, particularly the injuries, can be traced to bad luck. But still she attracts a crowd like few others in these parts and there is considerable excitement about where this run will lead in a favourable side of the draw.
Her next opponent will be the ninth seed Maria Sakkari, who Raducanu swatted aside in the US Open semi-finals way back when. The question is which Raducanu will turn up on Friday – the one who demolished Mertens or the one who needed to ‘win ugly’ in the first round? The version from the Mertens match would be a tremendous handful.
There might also be some intrigue around where the tournament situates them. It seemed to suit Raducanu that for this tie she was given a minor demotion to Court No 1, later described by the Brit as her ‘favourite court’, having not received an assignment away from Centre since the fourth round of her breakout act here in 2021. Amusingly it also saw a lower-profile Beckham in the crowd – Romeo instead of David, who was present on Monday. The son got the better deal.
Barring two poor points to open the match – a ballooned forehand and a double fault – Raducanu was flawless. With 76 per cent of her first serves hitting their mark, she faced and survived only two break points in moving 5-0 ahead and then closing for 6-1.
Her success through that period was built on an elevated level in moments of tension. For the first of those break points, at 2-0 up, Raducanu impressively manoeuvred Mertens into a mistake; for the second, at 5-1, she was battered across a long rally before sucking Mertens to the net and then passed her with a backhand. The craft of her approach can be underrated.
Raducanu effectively decided the second set with two breaks in the first five games and ran away in a manner that seemed impossible just a few months ago.