Teenager Emma Raducanu beats Sorana Cirstea 6-3, 7-5 in third round at Wimbledon
Published: 15:00, 03 July 2021
Updated: 15:23, 03 July 2021
Kent teenager Emma Raducanu's Wimbledon dream continued on Saturday as she reached the fourth round.
The rising star of British tennis is yet to find out her A-level results but she has already earned £115,000 in prize money in SW19.
She beat world no.45 Sorana Cirstea from Romania 6-3, 7-5 in the third round to continue her fairytale week.
The 18-year-old from Bromley has already knocked out Marketa Vondrousova and Vitalia Diatchenko, and now goes into the second week of the tournament.
Raducanu went 3-1 down in the first set by went on to win eight games in a row to secure the first set 6-3 and break early in the second set.
The teenager lost her second service game in the match but soon got into her stride with the crowd on number one court fully behind her.
From 3-0 up in the second set, Raducanu was broken but she more than held her own in long rallies and continually produced cross-court winners.
She could have crumbled after failing to capitalise on five break points in a mammoth 14-minute game when she was 4-3 up, but instead continued to play with a smile and focus in equal measure, her final tally of winners coming at 30 compared to her opponents' 18.
Raducanu, the youngest Brit through to the second round of Wimbledon for 62 years. now faces Australia's Ajla Tomljanovic in the fourth round.
"I'm so speechless," said Raducanu, who is yet to drop a set at Wimbledon. "I didn't know what my reaction would be if I won and then that happened.
"I'm so grateful for the support I had, I really appreciate it.
"This is by far the biggest court I've played on. I coped quite well in the beginning, it was a tight match but I held my nerve and (the crowd) really got me through."
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Matthew Panting