World No. 12 Emma Raducanu made her maiden quarterfinal of the year in Stuttgart and afterward couldn’t hide her happiness.
Raducanu, seeded at No. 8, defeated Tamara Korpatsch 6-0 2-6 6-1 in the Stuttgart round-of-16.
Raducanu arrived to Stuttgart with only three wins in 2022.
This week, Raducanu has found her game and she is through to her first quarterfinal of the year.
“I feel like it’s definitely achievement for me because making the quarterfinals of any WTA tournament, last year I would have been like ‘This is the bestt thing ever,’ ” Raducanu said, per WTA Insider.
Raducanu plays Iga Swiatek next
Friday’s program in Stuttgart will feature a match between two Grand Slam champions.
Raducanu, 19, has no previous meetings against Swiatek but she is aware that she will have to be at her absolute best in order to stand a chance against the new world No. 1.
Raducanu says she is the underdog and will feel no pressure when she takes on Swiatek.
“Of course [Swiatek is] in great form, so it’s going to take a very high level from me to make it competitive,” Raducanu said of facing Swiatek. “I’m looking forward to going out there. She’s No.1 in the world, she’s won all the tournaments recently, so I feel like I’ve got no pressure.”
After a strong fiirst set, Raducanu easily lost the second set to Korpatsch.
However, Raducanu recovered and broke Korpatsch twice in the third set to seal a three-set win.
“Second set is where I came out swinging, I had the match in control,” said Raducanu. “And then [Korpatsch] started playing some really good tennis, and maybe I dropped my level a little bit, but she capitalized really well. The way I regrouped for the third set, I think, was what I was most pleased about.”