While defending champion Carlos Alcaraz became ensnared in a five-set epic against the maverick Fabio Fognini, over on Wimbledon’s second show court, another former US Open champion was showing him how first-round matches at grand slams are supposed to go.
In fact, his future doubles partner: Emma Raducanu. The pair’s paths have diverged quite considerably since breakout seasons as teenagers, Raducanu winning a maiden major in Flushing Meadows in 2021, Alcaraz following suit the year after.
The Brit has never been able to replicate the highs of that stunning major win, but is back in the world’s top 40 after a more consistent first half of the season, and back in the British No 1 spot.
The opponent she faced on Monday evening at SW19 may have reminded her somewhat of herself at a younger age. Mimi Xu, 17, has recalled watching Raducanu’s US Open win, surrounded by friends she trained with at the LTA academy in Loughborough, and cites the 22-year-old as a “role model” for her.
The Swansea teenager was awarded a wildcard into the main draw at Wimbledon this year, after a brilliant rise to the cusp of the world’s top 300, including beating two top-100 players on grass this summer. Her reward was a first-round encounter with Raducanu, and primetime billing on Wimbledon’s second-biggest court.
It was quite the step up for someone mid-A levels, who – excellent season notwithstanding – largely competes on the ITF circuit. And initially Xu looked a little star-struck. Raducanu opted to receive first and immediately piled pressure on the teenager’s serve, breaking at the first time of asking. The 22-year-old often cuts a fired-up figure on court, and Xu’s quiet racquet-shakes to herself were drowned out by Raducanu’s frequent shouts of “Come on!” as she raced into the lead.
But after the first couple of games whizzed by, and the crowd began to fear a whitewash, Xu seemed to let herself relax. A shout of “Come on Britain!” offered the reminder that, with this being an all-British affair, the crowd – at least – was guaranteed to be supportive. Xu switched up her game, drawing Raducanu into the net, and after saving another break point, got herself on the board for 2-1.
It was to be a fairly brief respite, as Raducanu immediately reminded Xu – and everyone watching – why this was such a lopsided match. The teenager swung for the ball on a lethal body serve and missed completely, before slipping over at the baseline chasing the ball down.
Raducanu held to love and despite Xu showing glimpses of her quality – a fine forehand, easy power – she more often than not miscontrolled, and could not keep pace with the clean, destructive groundstrokes of her more experienced opponent.
Another error from Xu handed over the first set, 6-3 in 37 minutes. Someone in the crowd popped a bottle of champagne behind Raducanu’s seat, the cork flying over her head and landing in the service box.
But the excitable punter may have been celebrating a win too early, and Raducanu would require digging into the well of that experience in a topsy-turvy second set. Xu left the court to regroup and it was clear Raducanu fancied getting through proceedings quickly, practicing serves while she waited for her to return.
A swift hold to love, followed by a break of the Xu serve after a mammoth game, may have signalled the beginning of the end – but as so often with underdogs, Xu had other ideas. She began swinging freely, at the same moment as Raducanu began to falter. Three blistering aces helped the British No 1 to a 40-0 lead, before Xu fought back to deuce. A clean winner brought up break point, and the wallflower of the first set disappeared as Xu broke, gesturing to the crowd to make some noise. Thrilled at seeing the fightback, they duly obliged.
Four breaks in succession meant there was little to separate the pair, but Raducanu has been here several times before, and the depth of her experience told. From 40-0 up on serve at 4-2, she was pegged back to 40-30, disrupted by a spectator’s alarm repeatedly blaring. But she dug her heels in to back up her break, and did so again as she slipped to 0-30 serving for the match at 5-3. Xu shanked the ball into the net to bring up match point; a blistering serve was thumped into the tape, and that was that.
There were no hugs at the net, no warm words between the apprentice and her role model, just a businesslike handshake. But Raducanu was all smiles afterwards – as well as perhaps heaving a sigh of relief at how she avoided getting entangled in a lengthy epic, Alcaraz-style. The back issue that has troubled her in recent weeks also appeared pleasingly absent.
“I’m super pleased to have come through, it’s so difficult playing another Brit first up,” she said afterwards. “I had some really good patches and I had some moments where I lost my focus. I’m really happy with how I toughed it out and won the important points today.” Tougher tests will await, but this was a good one to tick off.
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