EASTBOURNE — Emma Raducanu triumphed in the battle of the US Open champions as she saw off 2017 winner at Flushing Meadows Sloane Stephens, winning 6-4, 6-0 in Eastbourne.
Raducanu, the 2021 US Open champion, will now face another American Jessica Pegula in the second round.
The British No 5 won eight games in a row to complete victory of the match as Stephens racked up a seventh defeat in her last eight matches.
And that was despite the American world No 48 earning the first break of the match in a ding-dong first set, but Raducanu’s 24 winners across the 77 minutes were too much for Stephens to handle.
“It’s difficult because Sloane is super-athletic and in the first set especially she was making a lot of balls and counter-punching really well,” Raducanu said afterwards.
“It took a lot to try and hit through her but I managed to figure it out in the second set.”
More to follow…