Emma Raducanu suffers same fate as Nick Kyrgios and Andy Murray ahead of US Open

Emma Raducanu has suffered the same fate as Nick Kyrgios and Andy Murray ahead of the US Open after she was handed a tough draw at the Canadian Open. Raducanu announced herself on the world tennis stage 11 months ago when she won the US Open at the age of only 18.

Raducanu will be desperate to produce a strong run of form ahead of the tournament at Flushing Meadows as she looks to defend her title. But she is set to face last year’s Canadian Open champion Camila Giorgi in the first round at Montreal.

Italian Giorgi, who is ranked No 29 in the world, stunned Czech fourth seed Karolina Pliskova last year to win the final 6-3 7-5 and land her first WTA Tour victory since 2019. She reached the semi-finals of Eastbourne earlier this summer and made it to the fourth round at last year’s US Open.

Raducanu will therefore need to be at the top of her game if she is to get the better of her first round opponent. The Briton reached the quarter-finals of the Citi Open in Washington this week before going down to Russia’s Ludmilla Samsonova in straight sets.

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Raducanu’s run at the Citi Open marked the first time she had reached the last eight of a tournament since the Stuttgart Open in April. The ace reached the second round of the French Open in May, before succumbing to Aliaksandra Sasnovich in three sets. And she could only progress to the second round at Wimbledon in June, where she lost to Caroline Garcia.

Since Wimbledon, Raducanu has started to work with former tennis star Dmitry Tursanov as her coach on a trial run. And she has recently admitted she is enjoying the new partnership. “He definitely has a good sense of humour and he’s definitely trying to make me take things easier on myself,” the youngster said. “He’s just slowly trying to shift me towards ‘if it’s not perfect, it’s okay.’ Like, if you shank one, it’s okay. Just these sorts of things and being more accepting of that.”