New York (AFP) – Former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina demolished Britain’s Emma Raducanu to reach the fourth round of the US Open for the first time on Friday. The Moscow-born ninth seed from Kazakhstan, whose previous best result in New York was a pair of third round appearances, overpowered Raducanu to win 6-1, 6-2 in one hour and two minutes. “Throughout the whole years, for some reason the US Open wasn’t a success for me but hopefully this year that will change,” Rybakina said in her on-court interview.
The unseeded Raducanu, the 2021 US Open champion, had looked in confident form en route to Friday’s clash with Rybakina on the Louis Armstrong Stadium showcourt. But the 22-year-old was in trouble from the outset against Rybakina, the Kazakh breaking her serve right away to seize the early advantage. Raducanu had no answer to Rybakina’s superior power as the Kazakh reeled off a series of thumping forehand winners before completing a convincing win.
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Rybakina is playing in New York with controversial coach Stefano Vukov restored to her viewing box after the WTA lifted a suspension against the Croat earlier this month. Vukov had been barred from attending all tournaments by the WTA after being found to have breached the tour’s code of conduct. He had been fired by Rybakina just before last year’s US Open and subsequently bombarded the player with requests to return, which left her fearing for her safety according to details of a WTA investigation reported by The Athletic.
Vukov was banned for a year in January after the WTA ruled he had engaged in “abuse of authority and abusive behaviour” towards Rybakina. However, Rybakina subsequently reunited with Vukov, who has coached her this season between events. He was allowed to return to courtside at the Cincinnati Open after successfully appealing against his suspension.
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