Emma Raducanu came from 5-0 down in the first set and won 11 straight games to beat world No.97 Kaja Juvan at the Transylvania Open. In only her second match since her Australian Open exit and a split from coach Francis Roig, Raducanu – the top seed at the tournament in Cluj-Napoca – had to pull off an enormous turnaround to win 7-5, 6-1 and reach the quarter-finals.
She told the crowd after: “Thank you for the support, it really got me through some tricky moments in that first set. I have to say Kaja was playing some great tennis, was putting me on the back foot straight away. I thought I was being aggressive, going for my shots, but I was missing and not executing. At least I can say I was trying to play on my terms. That was the goal for me. I don’t think I’ve ever come back from five-love down before so that’s a first to add to the experience. Thank you for staying and waiting so long, I appreciate it, it means a lot. Now I’ve got to try and recover straight away. It’s not much time but hopefully the schedule is kind to me and I can find some energy and hopefully I’ll see you guys out there and you’ll give me some energy.”
The 2021 US Open champion was broken in each of her first three service games of the opening set. The triple break gave Slovenian Juvan a commanding lead against the British No.1. But Raducanu broke back and secured five games in a row herself across the next 22 minutes to draw level.
Raducanu held serve at 5-5 and then broke her opponent for a fourth time in the opening set, converting her second set point, to wrap it up 7-5 after one hour and two minutes. She started the second set by defending a break point in a 10-minute game, and then won the next three in a row to continue a magnificent 11-game surge.
By then, the world No.30 had broken Juvan twice in the second set to build a 4-0 lead after 21 minutes. Juvan broke back after the Brit fired a forehand long only for Raducanu to respond instantly with a seventh break of the match before serving out a hard-earned, but memorable, victory.
The 23-year-old, who had former British player Alexis Canter courtside in Cluj, is looking to win her first title since her maiden Grand Slam five years ago. She has not contested a single final since beating Leylah Fernandez in the showpiece Flushing Meadows match.
Raducanu will face Maja Chwalinska of Poland in the last eight. The Pole, ranked 146th in the world, pulled off a 6-1, 1-6, 6-2 upset against Serbian seventh seed Olga Danilovic.
If Raducanu gets past Chwalinska, in the semi-finals she will face the winner of the match between Chinese fourth seed Wang Xiyu and Ukraine‘s Oleksandra Oliynykova, who went viral during the Australian Open for her tattoos.
On the other side of the draw are third seed Sorana Cirstea and Anastasia Potapova, the fifth seed, who seemingly represent Raducanu’s biggest obstacles to the title. The winner of the tournament takes home £27,172 and 250 ranking points, with Raducanu having already pocketed 54 thanks to reaching the quarters.
This is Raducanu’s first appearance at this tournament since 2021 where she lost in the quarter-finals to Marta Kostyuk, winning just three games.