the times | Saturday April 30 2022 2GS 17
Sport
In the immediate aftermath of her split
with her coach Torben Beltz this week,
Emma Raducanu bullishly talked up
her ability to learn on her own. This was
evident on the court yesterday as she
recovered from a slow start in her
Madrid Open debut.
For the second time in 15 days,
Raducanu got the better of Tereza
Martincova, the world No 49 from the
Czech Republic, in straight sets. Just
like the first meeting during a Billie
Jean King Cup qualifier in Prague, the
19-year-old Briton battled back from an
ominous position in the first set and
gradually found her range on the clay
for a 7-6 (7-3), 6-0 win in one hour and
36 minutes.
This was a particularly satisfying
performance for Raducanu after an
eventful few days. No doubt there was
extra pressure after her decision to
dismiss Beltz in favour of a “new train-
ing model” after only five months. After
sealing victory on the Arantxa Sánchez
Stadium she turned and celebrated
towards her interim coach, Iain Bates,
the LTA’s head of women’s tennis, and
her agent, Chris Helliar.
“It was a tricky first set,” Raducanu
said afterwards. “It’s always tough play-
ing on a brand new court and it took me
a bit of time to adjust to my surround-
ings. If you’re low or lacking in your
own game, an opponent at this level is
going to take advantage. I’m just glad
that I stuck through the first set and
definitely relaxed in the second set.”
The match was played in very differ-
ent conditions from their previous
meeting. In Prague the pace of play was
much slower in colder temperatures of
12C. Here the ball flies through the
thinner air at altitude — Madrid is 700
metres above sea level — and there was
an additional 10C on a balmy evening.
It took Raducanu about half an hour
to adjust. She came out with too much
aggression in her groundstrokes and
struggled for consistency on her two-
handed backhand. Martincova pulled
4-2 ahead after converting a sixth break
point in a long game and then moved to
within one game of the first set at 5-2.
Suddenly Raducanu sprang into
action. As had been the case in Prague,
Martincova tightened up as she served
for the set and Raducanu barely missed
off the ground in response. She forced a
tie-break and bounced back from a
mini break down to steal the set.
Martincova, 27, was mentally shot at
this point and struggled to handle the
power coming her way in the second set.
Raducanu’s serve had also noticeably
improved after often misfiring in recent
months — her first serve was at 74 per
cent by the end of the match — and she
quickly reeled off six straight games to
seal her place in the second round.
Marta Kostyuk will make for an
intriguing test tomorrow. The 19-year-old from Ukraine, ranked No 60 in the
world, dished out a thrashing in their
most recent meeting six months ago,
winning 6-2, 6-1 in the Transylvania
Open. She also often prevailed in their
early contests on the junior circuit.
“She’s a tough opponent,” Raducanu
said. “Last year I wasn’t very well but it’s
going to be an interesting match-up.
She’s always been the favourite. Grow-
ing up through juniors, she was always
considered as way better.”
Meanwhile, the draw for the men’s
event in Madrid has produced a first-
round battle between Andy Murray
and Dominic Thiem, the 2020 US
Open winner who has lost the first
three matches of his comeback after
nine months out with a wrist injury.
The top half of the draw is stackedHayter still leads the way
after being out-sprinted
Cycling Britain’s Ethan Hayter took
second place on stage three of the
Tour de Romandie yesterday as he
continued to show strong form.
Hayter was out-sprinted by New
Zealand’s Patrick Bevin at the end of
the 165km stage that started and
finished in Valbroye, but it was still
another encouraging result for the 23-
year-old after two victories already
this week. The Ineos Grenadiers rider,
who bounced back to win Thursday’s
stage two after losing the race lead in
a crash on Wednesday, extended his
advantage in the points classification
heading into today’s Queen Stage
from Aigle to Zinal.No coach, no problem: Raducanu
proves to be fast learner on clay
with star names. Murray or Thiem
could potentially face Novak Djokovic
in the third round. The world No 1 faces
a projected semi-final against Rafael
Nadal, who himself could face his
talented 18-year-old compatriot Carlos
Alcaraz in the quarter-finals.
The draw was relatively kind to the
other British competitors. Jack Draper
takes on Lorenzo Sonego, Dan Evans
plays Federico Delbonis and Cameron
Norries plays a qualifier.Tennis
Stuart Fraser
Tennis Correspondent, Madrid
MANU FERNANDEZ/APRaducanu plays a forehand volley as she comes from behind to beat her Czech opponent on the Madrid clay yesterdayO’Sullivan
powers clear
of Higgins
SnookerRonnie O’Sullivan took command of
his World Championship semi-final
against John Higgins in ruthless fash-
ion at the Crucible.
O’Sullivan made breaks of 99, 91, 70
and 73 to open up a 10-6 lead, but it was
the manner in which he won the ses-
sion’s last frame, on a respotted black,
that will have hurt Higgins the most.
Higgins looked set to limit the dam-
age — and make his highest break of
the match into the bargain — only to
miss a black off the spot, which would
have left O’Sullivan needing a snooker.
The six-times world champion pro-
duced a stunning positional shot to get
on the black from the penultimate red
and a 43 clearance levelled the scores at
58-58. O’Sullivan’s attempt to double
the respotted black left Higgins with a
difficult pot into the green pocket,
which the 46-year-old Scot was unable
to convert, the black running down the
table to leave O’Sullivan a simple pot
into the middle.
Higgins had taken two of the first
three frames of the day to lead 6-5, but
O’Sullivan kicked off a winning run of
five frames in a row with a break of 99.
In the other semi-final, Mark
Williams fought back from 11-5 down to
trail Judd Trump 13-11. Both matches
play to a finish today.INSIDE TODAY
Boris Becker condemned
for lack of remorse as he
is jailed for 2½ years
News, pages 4-5