Emma Raducanu ‘very pleased’ to send Great Britain to Billie Jean King Cup Finals
Emma Raducanu has helped Great Britain to qualify for the Billie Jean King (BJK) Cup Finals, with the 2021 US Open champion winning both singles rubbers against France.
Raducanu was competing in only her second BJK Cup tie, with the first coming two years ago against Czech Republic in Prague.
The 21-year-old played her first rubber against France with Great Britain 1-0 down, after Diane Parry claimed 12 consecutive games to beat British No.1 Katie Boulter.
World No.23 Caroline Garcia was the opponent of Raducanu, with the Brit having to come from a set down to pick up the highest ranked win of her career on clay.
This set up the aforementioned Boulter to beat the substituted in Clara Burel, leaving Raducanu needing to beat Parry to confirm Great Britain’s victory.
Raducanu lost the first set once again in front of a raucous French crowd in Le Portel, but forced a decider after claiming the second 6-1.
It appeared that Raducanu would claim her second victory of the weekend at 5-2 up in the third set, but Parry fought back to level things up at 5-5.
However, the former world No.10 managed to recompose herself and come through emphatically in the tie-break to confirm a historic victory for Great Britain.
After the match, Raducanu thanked the British fans in the crowd and the rest of the team, “I mean a lot of love for the crowd out there in Great Britain, supporting us and coming out here. I’m very pleased to win two points, especially here on clay. We knew how tough it was going to be.”
The current No.302 continued, “I was really pleased to win two points. Boults [Boulter] helped us to go 2-1 up. And the support on the bench to help us go out again. It’s a massive shout out, it’s not just me out there.
“Especially being a set down, I was backed up against the wall and I didn’t want to go to the doubles because they’re a very strong doubles team.”
It is the first time that Raducanu has won back-to-back matches on clay since 2022, with the Brit thanking LTA trainer Ian Aylward for helping prepare her body for the BJK Cup tie.
“It does feel really good. I need to shout out Ian [Aylward] at home who has been working with me every single day,” said Raducanu. To be able to play two matches like that back-to-back, it’s a testament to what I’ve been doing I’m just glad it was able to show.”
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What a win. ???? pic.twitter.com/ST2rC8iZEi
— LTA (@the_LTA) April 13, 2024
Raducanu and the rest of the Great Britain BJK Cup team will be joined by defending champions Canada, 2023 runners-up Italy and nine other nations at the Finals in Seville in November later this year.
Next for Raducanu will be the WTA 500 tournament in Stuttgart next week, where she will play former No.1 Angelique Kerber in the first round.
Inside the baseline…
It was a very impressive and needed weekend for Emma Raducanu, who really showcased how much of a talent she is once again. If the Brit can stay relatively fit for the rest of the season, then there is no reason as to why she should not climb back inside the top 50,40 or maybe even 30 producing that sort of tennis. Especially as Raducanu can only gain ranking points now, after missing the majority of the 2023 season.
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