Emma Raducanu gave a thumbs-up to both her second swift win of the US Open and Carlos Alcaraz’s new haircut.
The Spaniard’s close shave, which he revealed was a result of his brother’s error with the clippers, has been the talk of Flushing Meadows and drawn very mixed reviews from fellow players.
American Frances Tiafoe branded it “horrible” but Jannik Sinner approved and Raducanu was also a fan of her mixed doubles partner’s new look.
“I think he owns it,” she said. “I think he pulls it off. I think he’s just taking it and if you own a haircut like that, then it can work.
“Whatever he does, it’s not going to affect what he does on the court. I’m just happy to see him having fun with whatever.”
Raducanu was understandably in a good mood after sweeping aside in-form qualifier Janice Tjen 6-2 6-1 in exactly an hour to reach the third round at Flushing Meadows.
If anyone knows the danger of qualifiers, it is Raducanu, who famously became the only one to win a grand slam title here four years ago – a feat that inspired Indonesian trailblazer Tjen.
But Raducanu was ruthless on Louis Armstrong Stadium, setting a new record for her quickest grand slam win for the second round in a row.
The only concern was a few touches of her troublesome back, but Raducanu played down the significance, saying: “I just had a little bit of stiffness in the second set.
“I think I have been doing a lot of training and I’m just happy it didn’t affect me too much in the second set and I was still able to compete and to perform well and keep putting out good serves, good returns.”
Her serve was particularly impressive, with eight aces and a high first-serve percentage.
“I’m particularly happy because, on the court, I felt like my opponent was playing really good tennis,” said Raducanu of Tjen, who knocked out 24th seed Veronika Kudermetova in round one and has modelled her game on former world number one Ash Barty.
“I thought that she was very dangerous and any ball that I put mid-court was going to be punished. So I’m very pleased with how I kept dictating the points, I kept dictating the play and didn’t let her too often get her front foot on the court.
“She’s obviously been playing very well, done a lot of winning and took out Veronika in the first round. Of course I was on full alert playing today. I’m just very pleased with that performance.
“I thought that I served very well and I put quite a few aces on the board today. It always helps me when I’m serving well. It just kind of seeps into the rest of my game.”
Things will only get tougher from here, with former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina her likely next opponent, but Raducanu will rightly feel that she can be a significant obstacle for anyone in the draw.
