Emma Raducanu has spent the past few months diligently working on improving her game in order to more consistently irritate the best players in the world, but another meeting with one of the elite only illustrated how much more she has to do.
In what has become a painfully familiar experience for the British No 1, Raducanu was largely reduced to the role of spectator in her own match as she faced an imperious attacking performance from the 2022 Wimbledon champion, Elena Rybakina, who dismantled her opponent 6-1, 6-2 in 62 minutes to reach the fourth round of the US Open.
With this defeat, Raducanu ends her grand slam season on a curious note. She has not suffered a bad loss at the major tournaments this year, losing to an incredible trio of players in Iga Swiatek (twice), Aryna Sabalenka and now Rybakina. With the exception of her tight two-setter with the world No 1, Sabalenka, at Wimbledon, however, those meetings have not been close. While the draws have not been kind to her, Raducanu’s game has repeatedly not looked strong enough against supreme opponents with greater firepower.
“I’ve lost to Iga twice, Aryna and Elena, so it’s tough,” the British player said. “But at the same time, that’s where I’m at with my ranking. I can play top opponents in the first, second or third round. So I’ve just got to do my best in the next few months until Australia to just keep working to try to close the gap.”
Since she announced her new partnership with the Spanish coach Francisco Roig just under four weeks ago, Raducanu has described her primary goal as improving to the point where she can consistently trouble the top players. But she notes that their collaboration is in its early stages and they have a lot of work ahead. “I think there are certain parts of my game which have gotten better for sure,” Raducanu said. “Today my weaknesses were highlighted, but I think it’s only been three weeks, and he can’t really work miracles. So I know we’re doing good work, and I just look forward to continuing.”
On Wednesday Rybakina was not particularly impressive in a tight two-set win over the qualifier Tereza Valentova. Raducanu’s status as a grand slam champion does seem to inspire the game’s best to approach her with full focus. Considering her aspirations of being a top player in her own right, the challenge for Raducanu is improving to a point where she can raise her own level.
Elena Rybakina proved too powerful for Emma Raducanu during their third-round clash. Photograph: Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images
“I think when the very top play against me, they have a point to prove that they’re at the top, and they’re there for a reason,” she said. “I think every time I’ve played one, they’ve kind of shown that. So at the same time while I’m improving, doing better, gaining maybe some more respect around, yeah, the top have definitely raised their game. But I’ll take that as a compliment that they’ve decided to really lock in against me, but at the same time it does show I have a lot more work to do.”
Raducanu had good reason to hope that things may be slightly different this time. She arrived at Louis Armstrong Stadium as confident as she could be, losing six games in her first two matches. However, the world No 10 represented a completely different challenge.
From the start Rybakina’s devastating first serve neutralised Raducanu’s return, her biggest strength, and she also returned with constant depth, rushing her opponent after her own serve throughout the match. The Kazakhstani took control of almost every baseline exchange, powering the ball off both wings and forcing Raducanu further and further behind the baseline. When Rybakina is in full flight, she presses her opponents and Raducanu simply does not possess the weapons to counter her. By the second set, the British No 1 had clearly lost belief in her ability to win the match.
But Raducanu rightfully leaves New York hopeful about her future. She is generally performing at a high level, appears to have fully bought into her new partnership with Roig and exorcised some significant demons this week by finally winning matches at the US Open for the first time since her 2021 title. With a live ranking of No 34, she is on the verge of being seeded at the grand slams again.
In contrast to Raducanu’s positive recent strides, 2025 has actually been a turbulent year for Rybakina. Her season started with the news that her longtime coach, Stefano Vukov, had been suspended from the tour by the WTA due to alleged verbal abuse towards her. The player has repeatedly expressed her opposition to the ruling and continued to work with him away from tournaments.
Shortly before the Cincinnati Open this month, Vukov successfully appealed against the ruling, meaning he is free to accompany Rybakina at tournaments again. Since the case was closed, she has produced some of her best tennis of the season and this supreme performance only reaffirmed her status as a clear title threat in New York.
Reigning champion Sabalenka also punched her ticket to the last 16 on Friday after seeing off Canada’s Leylah Fernandez 6-3, 7-6 (7/2). Sabalenka’s decisive second set victory was capped by her 18th consecutive tie-break win.
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