- Emma Raducanu beat Jessica Pegula in three sets in Eastbourne on Wednesday
- The victory marked the first time she beat a top-10 player since the US Open victory.
- The 21-year-old is one of three Britons in the tournament’s top eight.
Emma Raducanu scored the biggest success of her career by beating world number 5 Jessica Pegula to advance to the quarter-finals in Eastbourne.
“At my own pace,” he wrote on camera after his previous match, but at this pace it’s hard to keep up.
The 21-year-old had never beaten anyone inside the top 10, and only one inside the top 20 since her US Open title in 2021.
“The new me,” as Raducanu described herself on Monday, turns out to be quite the tennis player.
In addition to previous excellent wins by Katie Boulter and Harriet Dart, Great Britain has three women in the top eight here for the first time since 1978.
Emma Raducanu advanced to the quarterfinals in Eastbourne after beating Jessica Pegula
The 21-year-old had never beaten anyone inside the top 10, and only one inside the top 20 since winning the US Open in 2021.
“This shows how hard we are working,” Raducanu said. “And it contradicts some beliefs about us; it shows that we’re doing a pretty good job.”
On her own match, she said: “I feel pretty exhausted right now. I managed to navigate through some tough situations. I would say this match was one of the most meaningful for me.”
Pegula, 30, was the second favorite here after winning the grass title in Berlin. So, her form was red hot, but there was always the chance that if Raducanu could force her to go deeper into the match, she would show some fatigue.
And so it happened, as Raducanu saved a match point in the second set tiebreak.
Pegula has a lovely game on grass with her flat groundstrokes and strong serve. Raducanu was totally dominated and lost 4-1.
He bounced off the ropes and came out swinging, attacking his opponent’s second serve and charging into the net more often. It was a sensible change to break Pegula’s rhythm, but it was also a glimpse of how Raducanu’s game may develop in the future, at least on this surface.
He also started mixing things up with sliced backhands, but that shot looks like a work in progress, certainly compared to his trusty double.
But having worked so hard to rebuild to 4-4, 30-15 on her own serve, Raducanu committed back-to-back double faults and those kinds of gifts aren’t given to a player of Pegula’s class.
Pegula, 30, was the second favorite at Eastbourne and had just won the grass title in Berlin. His form was red hot.
The second set followed a similar pattern with Pegula breaking early and Raducanu catching her.
Tie-breaker. Raducanu nailed a forehand to save match point and then Pegula scored a backhand to concede the set.
Raducanu was outstanding in the deciding set, saving a break point in the first game and flourishing from there. He recognized that often the weakest ball Pegula was going to hit him was the second serve, so he pushed hard on the return.
She has to work harder for her power than Pegula, who hits easily, but he lunged to her right and made her sing.
A back-to-back point combination of a backhand lob winner followed by a line painter down the line was as good as it gets.
With one point for a second break of serve, he beautifully executed a backhand drop shot. That gave him a 5-2 cushion, but it quickly became 5-4.
There were some nerves and seagulls flitting around the court as she approached to serve the match for the second time. And after two classy points from Pegula, Raducanu double faulted and hit a long forehand.
Raducanu recovered in three sets to defeat the American and become one of three Britons in the last eight.
They were three games in a row lost, but you don’t win the US Open without having a bit of a ticker and Raducanu responded in the next game. A drop-shot and pass combination gave Raducanu two break points at 5-5 and she took the second with a forehand volley.
He had to save four break points but finally served on the third time.
