PARIS –Emma Raducanu battled through illness to take her French Open opener against Xinyu Wang in three sets at Roland Garros on Monday.
Raducanu, 22, ended up coming through 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 against China’s Wang, a player just two spots below her in the rankings. This equalled Raducanu’s longest match on clay as she needed 2 hours and 44 minutes to get through.
The win sees her play four-time Roland Garros champion Iga Swiatek in the second round.
It was a tough battle for Raducanu against Wang, with the Brit requiring medical attention at 6-5 up in the first set. There she had her blood pressure and temperature taken and looked to be rubbing ice underneath her eyes. After recollecting herself, she managed to serve out the first set after returning to the court.
Wang started the second set quickly, breaking Raducanu twice. Raducanu looked low on energy but rallied to break Wang twice, only for Wang to edge out the second set 6-4.
“I think after the second set I went to the bathroom and just really regrouped,” Raducanu said.
“I was just thinking to try to get off to a good start more than anything in the third because I knew that would help me keep my spirits up, keep the fight, keep as much energy as I had.”
The Brit came to Roland Garros having suffered a back spasm last week at the Strasburg Open. She admitted she wasn’t feeling 100% heading into the competition, but in the third set, Raducanu found her rhythm again and broke Wang — who made 54 unforced errors — to take control.
From there she managed to close things out, taking it 6-3.
“I’m really happy that I was able to do that and give myself a small cushion at the back end,” Raducanu said.
“I don’t know why I just have struggled today. The last few days, just not really been feeling great. I guess I’m managing a few things. But despite all of that, being able to come through against a really tough opponent today, I’m really proud of.”
Radnucanu’s next opponent Swiatek spoke about the need to treat the Brit as a serious threat to her own French Open campaign after the Pole swatted aside Rebecca Šramková in their first-round clash on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
“Everybody has a different path, you know, and different changes,” Swiatek said. But for sure she’s a great player and has, you know, [a] great forehand. She can use her topspin pretty well.
“So we played already couple of times, and we know each other’s game. For sure I will need to be intense and focus on myself. But for sure … She won the US Open. She can play great tennis, you know. I’ll be ready.”
This is just the second time Raducanu has been in the main draw at Roland Garros. And her win over Wang sees her equal her best finish at Roland Garros after she reached the second round in 2022, where she lost to Aliaksandra Sasnovich.
Elsewhere, fellow Brit Jodie Burrage lost her first round match against Danielle Collins 7-6 (1), 6-4.
Burrage, ranked 165th in the world, was playing in her first Grand Slam since the 2024 Australian Open.
She missed the majority of the 2024 season due to wrist and ankle problems, but on her first time in the main draw at Roland Garros, pushed Collins close.
