Emma Raducanu beat No. 7 seed Sorana Cirstea 6-4 6-2 in the second round at the Queen's Club Championships
Emma Raducanu will be forced to return to the Andy Murray Arena in just a few hours, despite producing an upset by defeating No. 7 seed Sorana Cirstea 6-4 6-2 in the second round.
Tournament organisers are scrambling to catch up at the Queen's Club after every single match was washed out on Thursday, including the Raducanu-Cirstea clash. This means the British No. 1 will be back on the same court later on Friday to complete her quarter-final match.
Raducanu and Cirstea briefly stepped onto the court on Thursday afternoon but didn't even complete the warm-up before rain drove them off again. After waiting around all day until their match was eventually called off at 6.30pm, the world No.42 wasted no time once play finally commenced around 19 hours later, reports the Express.
Raducanu required just 17 minutes to storm into a 4-0 advantage over the world No. 18, and held a point to break once more.
However, she finally relented, and Cirstea claimed four of the next five games to narrow the deficit.
The double-break advantage Raducanu had built earlier proved sufficient to carry her through. The Briton saved a break point as she sealed the set at the first opportunity, punching the air as she glanced towards her team.
With the momentum firmly back in her favour, Raducanu made a flawless start to the second set, breaking the No. 7 seed.
And centre court roared as she fired a winner straight past Cirstea to establish a 2-0 lead. Completely at ease on the grass, Raducanu was relentless in her pursuit of victory, breaking her opponent's serve once more in the fifth game of the set as she edged ever closer to the quarter-finals.
The British No. 1 was greeted with a standing ovation as she stepped up to serve out the match after just one hour and 23 minutes.
She pushed the ball wide on her first match point, but sealed the win on her second as Cirstea netted her return.
Speaking to the crowd afterwards, Raducanu said: "It feels incredible to have come out and played how I did today against Sorana. She's been a player who, this year, has had incredible form, amazing wins, reached a high ranking. Earlier this year, she beat me. But I'm really glad that I could kind of get her back at home as well."
It was sweet revenge for Raducanu, who endured a heavy 6-0 6-2 defeat to Cirstea in the Transylvania Open final back in February while feeling under the weather. She now finds herself in the last eight, having conceded just nine games across her opening two matches.
The world No. 42 will return to the Andy Murray Arena for the final match on Friday, where she will face Kamilla Rakhimova.
Raducanu added: "Just really pleased that I'm able to play another match here, today I think! So hopefully you guys can stick around. It means so much for everyone to have stuck around yesterday. I know I had some friends here doing that, but for the whole crowd to be doing that, it's a privilege and I really wanted to show some good tennis to make up for the rain delay, so hopefully I did that."
Before Raducanu returns to the court at Queen's Club, two further matches are scheduled on centre court. First up is an all-American clash between Iva Jovic and last year's runner-up Amanda Anisimova, followed by Katie Boulter taking on Elena Rybakina.
Twelve months ago, Raducanu also made it to the quarter-finals at this venue before falling to Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng. She is now targeting a place in her second semi-final of the season, having already impressed with her run to the Transylvania Open final.
