Tennis-Sabalenka douses Raducanu fire to reach fourth round

By Pritha Sarkar

LONDON (Reuters) -Aryna Sabalenka looked shaken and stirred on Friday as it appeared she would become the most high-profile name to join the mass exodus of Wimbledon seeds before her survival instincts kicked in to secure a 7-6(6) 6-4 third-round win over Emma Raducanu.

Wimbledon fans are no strangers to floodlit blockbusters featuring British home favourites, with Andy Murray providing plenty of late-night thrills under a closed Centre Court roof during his stellar career.

On Friday, after being kept waiting till 8 pm local time (1900 GMT) to take centre stage, it was Raducanu's turn to provide the drama as she played some electrifying tennis to surge into a 4-2 lead in the first set and was again up 4-1 in the second.

Unfortunately for Raducanu, getting over the finishing line proved a step too far.

"She played such incredible tennis and she pushed me really hard. To get this win, I had to fight for every point like crazy," the world number one told the crowd after improving her record over British opponents to 9-0.

"She was making me move a lot, serving well and playing great tennis from the baseline. I was just trying to stay focused and put as many balls as I could on her side. I just tried to put all of the pressure on her."

The 22-year-old Raducanu kept the Belarusian guessing with her breathtaking shot-making that earned her a break in the fifth game to the delight of the 15,000-strong crowd who roared on every Raducanu winner and cheered on every Sabalenka error.

Although Sabalenka, the sole survivor among the top six women's seeds, gained back the break, she was left shell-shocked when she missed seven set, and break, points at 5-4 on Raducanu's serve, with the Briton serving her way out of trouble.

At the eighth time of asking, in the tiebreak, Sabalenka finally silenced the crowd when she produced a stop volley to bag the set, her achievement being greeted by only a smattering of applause.

Raducanu, who has spent a long time in the tennis wilderness following her mind-boggling win at the U.S. Open in 2021 as a qualifier, wanted to prove that she was back to her best by following up her win over 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova with victory over Sabalenka.

When she surged into a 4-1 lead in the second, and even had a break point to take a 5-1 lead, it seemed that she had it in her grasp to drag the contest into a deciding set.

But just as the spectators on Centre Court, and the thousands more cheering on from a heaving Henman Hill, started believing that Raducanu had the momentum, and the weapons, to pull off an improbable win against an opponent who has contested the last three Grand Slam finals, reality struck.

Sabalenka turned on the power to win the last five games to extinguish Raducanu's hopes of reaching the fourth round for the third time, with the Briton netting a service return on match point.

"What an atmosphere. My ears are still hurting, honestly. It was super loud! Every time you were cheering her, I was trying to tell myself to just pretend that you were just cheering for me. I had goosebumps honestly, so thank you for the atmosphere," said the top seed, who will next face Belgium's Elise Mertens.

(Reporting by Pritha Sarkar, editing by Clare Fallon)