Emma Raducanu beats Peyton Stearns to seal Washington Open quarter-finals place - 'I'm building some momentum' - Eurosport

Collins forced to retire during match against Swiatek

Emma Raducanu struggled with the mental challenge of a long rain delay but managed to secure her spot in the Washington Open quarter-finals with a 7-6 6-2 victory against local player Peyton Stearns.

The young woman had to wait patiently when heavy rain caused a two-hour delay in the game, but Raducanu managed to win a tense first set and a strong second set to secure her advance.

Instead, she chose to get ready for the US Open by participating in a hard court tournament in Washington DC. She continued her successful summer by securing another important win.

Next, she will compete against either Liudmila Samsonova or Paula Badosa in the quarterfinals, with both players scheduled to play on Thursday.

“It’s difficult when you have to stop playing because of rain during a crucial moment like that. It can change how the game is going,” Raducanu stated in an interview with Sky Sports.

I believe I did well by starting off strong and persevering through the tiebreak.

I was aware that facing Peyton in my own territory was going to be a challenging game.

"I've been doing well lately, I feel like I'm gaining some traction."

In the tough first match, both players were evenly matched, with Raducanu successfully defending against three break points to secure an important hold at 2-2.

After that, she continued her success by winning the Stearns serve to take the lead. However, she unfortunately missed a set point and allowed the American player to break back at 5-5.

After a tie-break, Raducanu finally scored her first point in the match.

In the following set, Raducanu quickly gained an advantage by breaking serve early and quickly moved ahead with a 3-0 lead.

Stearns did better with her serving as she won two strong games in a row without losing a point. However, she was broken for the fifth and last time in the eighth game, leading to her elimination from the tournament.

discovery+ is where you can stream the Olympic Games, and it's the exclusive platform to catch all the action of Paris 2024 this summer.