Emma Raducanu is knocking on the door of her first WTA final since her fairytale run at the 2021 US Open. On a scorching Friday in Washington D.C., the British star edged past Greece’s Maria Sakkari in straight sets, 6-4, 7-5, to reach the semi-finals of the DC Open.
It was a steamy showdown played in punishing 35°C (95°F) heat conditions Raducanu described as among the most brutal she’s faced.
“It felt like sticking your head in an oven and leaving it there,” she said, reflecting on the relentless humidity. “In the second set I started to feel wobbly, so I’m proud I got through it in two.”
This victory not only pushes Raducanu into her first WTA semi-final of the year she last reached that stage in Nottingham but also sets up the tantalizing prospect of a rematch with Leylah Fernandez, the Canadian she famously beat in the 2021 US Open final.
Fernandez earned her semi-final spot earlier in the day with a gritty 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) win over American Taylor Townsend. Battling through leg cramps and fending off a set point in the second, the left-handed Canadian dug deep to stay alive in the draw.
She now awaits the outcome of a late match between Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina, the third seed, and Poland’s fifth seed Magdalena Frech.
Raducanu, meanwhile, will face either Denmark’s Clara Tauson (seeded fourth) or Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya in Saturday’s semi-final clash.
A potential Raducanu-Fernandez final would revive memories of their breakout Grand Slam duel only this time, it would be for the DC Open title on the American hard courts.
