Emma Raducanu “took care of business” - now she just needs to manage the growing hype.

When you become a Grand Slam champion at 18 it's pretty hard to stop others getting a bit carried away, but since that New York fairytale three years ago Orpington’s Raducanu has struggled with both injuries and managing the towering expectations set for her career.

Feted with awards and showered with eye-watering endorsement deals, Raducanu was a millionaire many times over before the end of her teens.

However, she arrived at the All England Club this week injury-free and playing with a new confidence, dominating Belgium's Elise Mertens - a player ranked 102 places above her - on Wednesday to progress to her first Grand Slam third round since winning the US Open in 2021.

Mertens didn't help herself with a succession of unforced errors in the 6-1, 6-2 defeat but Raducanu's power game looked on point in a match that lasted barely an hour on a partisan No.1 Court.

"When my character shows through my tennis is when I play my best," she said.

"I had so much fun and I really fed off that atmosphere. I think I played some really good tennis and I took care of business. I'm really pleased that I've extended my stay for a couple more days.

"The important thing is to just focus on myself, I've got to stay in the zone and in my own little world.

"I'm really happy with the improvements I've made to my game. I knew all the hard work would lead to something and I'm so happy to be reaping some rewards at Wimbledon.

"I think I played well but it's not my best match since the US Open, I've played other games I was probably more happy with."

A measure of Raducanu's ambition not to take things too seriously this week was her decision to play mixed doubles with Andy Murray, in his last appearance at the All England Club.

It's only Murray's second appearance in the mixed doubles at SW19, having teamed up with Serena Williams to reach the third round in 2019. However, he did win Olympic silver with Laura Robson at Wimbledon in 2012.

"Wimbledon is Andy Murray and Andy Murray is Wimbledon," added Raducanu. "It took 10 seconds to say yes. My doubles record isn't the best but you can't say no to Andy Murray.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, it's been a dream of mine since I was a young girl. Andy is a hero to all of us, it's just a gift and honour to be asked.

“Hopefully I can learn a thing or too from him about coming to the net.

"When I look back at my career I'll be able to have a memory of playing here with Andy Murray, that's incredibly special."

Before her date with Murray will be Friday’s third-round clash with Greece's Maria Sakkari, the No.9 seed, whose Wimbledon record is far from stellar - reaching round three just twice in seven visits.

They've played just once before - when Raducanu won in straight sets in the US Open semi-finals. Another omen? Absolutely not, insists the Brit.

"The circumstances are totally different," she added. "The dynamics are different, I was totally unknown when I played her last. She is a top-10 player and I'm outside the world's top 100. I'm the complete underdog.

"It's easy to get caught up with things that have happened in the past and see all these parallels but no situation is the same."

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