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Raducanu homecoming a roaring success

A capacity crowd roared ‘Emma Emma’ at London’s Royal Albert Hall on Sunday as the US Open champion played her first match on British soil side that memorable New York victory.

Raducanu came out on top with a 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) victory over friend Elena-Gabriela and then revealed her schedule for the next few weeks.

“Six days I just completely switched off and I started my pre-season this week on Tuesday, but I’ve been doing a lot of fitness and not so much tennis so I was a bit nervous coming out to play in front of everyone here,” she said.

“I’m doing a pre-season and working hard on my fitness. As you can tell, I need to work with my sprints to the net as I was getting drop-shotted.”

Raducanu will next be in action at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi in December before heading to Australia.

“I’m heading out to the Middle East to finish my pre-season and then Christmas out there and flying to Australia from there on the 27th.”

Raducanu also revealed she had previously been to the Champions Tennis event at the age of six, when her father, Ian, took her.

“It is pretty surreal to play on the same courts that I once watched growing up,” she said.

Peter Rowe

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