Emma Raducanu began her build-up towards next month’s US Open with an impressive straight-sets win over seventh seed Marta Kostyuk at the Mubadala DC Citi Open in Washington.
Playing her first singles match since stretching world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the third round of Wimbledon, Raducanu held off the Ukrainian world number 27 to pull through a gruelling encounter 7-6 (4) 6-4.
Both players struggled on serve in a 71-minute opening set, trading early breaks before inevitably edging into a tie-break which Raducanu won despite initially sacrificing a 4-0 lead.
The British number three, who made a rare doubles appearance alongside Elena Rybakina earlier this week, looked the fresher of the pair in tough conditions and cemented her superiority by breaking en route to establishing a 3-0 lead in the second set.
Kostyuk, who arrived in Washington having lost five singles matches in a row stretching back to May, rallied just when all seemed lost, breaking Raducanu back as she clawed back to parity at 4-4.
Having forced Kostyuk to serve to stay in the match, the Ukrainian handed Raducanu two match points with a double fault, and the Briton seized her second chance to book her place in the second round.
“Extremely good win,” Raducanu said in her on-court interview. “Playing Marta first round is extremely difficult and we’ve always had some tough matches.
“I’m happy with the way I fought through the first set and in the second, stayed tough when I needed to.”
Venus Williams became the oldest player to win a tour-level singles match for more than two decades when she beat fellow American Peyton Stearns.
In a match of 10 service breaks, Williams, 45, won 6-3 6-4 to become the oldest winner since Martina Navratilova, who was 47 in 2004.
It was her first singles victory since August 2023 and books a last-16 clash with Poland’s Magdalena Frech, the fifth seed.
The seven-time grand slam singles tournament winner returned to competitive action after 16 months out with a doubles victory alongside Hailey Baptiste on Monday.
Cameron Norrie completed a notable win over second seed and world number seven Lorenzo Musetti to book his place in the last 16.
Norrie, the world number 41, hit back from losing the opening set to triumph 3-6 6-2 6-3 and score his first win over a top 10-ranked player since reaching the quarter-finals at Indian Wells in 2023.
