British No 1 Emma Raducanu has beeen handed a tough draw against Serena Williams in an enticing first-round clash at the Western & Southern Open. The 19-year-old will face Williams in the warm-up tournament for the US Open for the first time in her career and just days after the 23-time Grand Slam champion announced her impending retirement.
The US Open champion will continue her preparations to defend her title in the best way possible against the illustrious Williams, facing the legendary player who is 21 years her senior for the first time in her career.
Raducanu has experienced mixed fortunes of late after reaching the quarter-final of the Citi Open before losing to Ludmilla Samsonova. But the 19-year-old followed that up with a disappointing display at the Canada Open last week, bowing out in the first round in straight sets to Camila Giorgi.
Williams heads into Cincinnati after registering her first win of the year at the National Bank Open before losing to Belinda Bencic in the second round. And it promises to be a highly-anticipated clash as US Open winners of past and present go toe-to-toe.
The winner will face either Victoria Azarenka or Kaia Kanepi in what has proved to be a draw top-loaded with seeded players, proving to be a tough task for Raducanu or Williams to progress to the latter stages.
It will be the last WTA Tour event that Williams plays before her final hurrah at the US Open later this month. And the American – who has won 73 titles in her incredible career – will be going all out to prove she can end her playing days on a high note against Raducanu, whose form has been inconsistent at best of late.
Williams appeared on the cover of Vogue in September’s issue, and in her interview with the magazine, she hinted this year would be her last as a tennis professional: “I’m turning 41 this month, and something’s got to give. I have never liked the word retirement. It doesn’t feel like a modern word to me.
“I’ve been thinking of this as a transition, but I want to be sensitive about how I use that word, which means something very specific and important to a community of people. Maybe the best word to describe what I’m up to is evolution.”
Reacting to Williams’ announcement, Raducanu heaped praise on the 40-year-old and said she had been a trailblazer to prove women can have long and successful careers if they want to.
“Her career is incredible,” Raducanu said. “She’s achieved so much so to see her around during this US Open swing is really inspiring.
“She keeps playing because she obviously loves the game. The longevity of her career is something that a lot of the players, especially me, can aspire to. She definitely changed the game. There’s never been someone who’s dominated like her.”
On paper, it should be a straightforward victory for Raducanu, who is currently 10th in the WTA rankings compared to Williams’ entry at 340.
But her form on the court suggests otherwise, with the young Briton losing 13 of her 24 matches in 2022 and producing a win rate of just 40 per cent on the hard surface. It is a setting that Williams has excelled on for some time in her career and, if she is fit and firing, it could prove to be a difficult test for the budding star.
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