The North American hard-court swing is under way with Emma Raducanu in action against Naomi Osaka at the Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington – live on Sky Sports Tennis.
Raducanu began her build-up towards next month’s US Open with an impressive straight-sets win over seventh seed Marta Kostyuk and next faces former world No 1 Osaka for the very first time from 6pm on Thursday.
“I think it’s a great match for a lot of spectators, which is great to be a part of,” Raducanu said. “I felt the same way when I played Aryna [Sabalenka] at Wimbledon. That atmosphere was unbeatable for me. I think all the exposure I get to these top opponents [is good].
“She’s won four Grand Slams, so an incredible achievement and incredible career so far, and she’s been playing really good tennis this year. Yeah, it will be a great test of my own game and myself.”
From 2018 through 2021, Raducanu and Osaka won three of the four US Open titles.
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Osaka fell in the third round at Wimbledon to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, after losing in the first round of the French Open to Paula Badosa, but the Japanese star feels a certain level of comfort returning to hard-courts and is ready for an entertaining battle with Raducanu.
“I’m always a person that loves when people are entertained,” Osaka said. “So I would say I’m excited about it. I’ve never played her before, so for me that’s something really cool too.
“Because I have seen her, I guess when she first did well at Wimbledon before she won the US Open, like moments like that, and I knew she was a good player. So I guess for our paths to finally cross is really cool.”
Dan Evans, the 2023 champion, was awarded a wildcard for the tournament and he enjoyed a triumphant return to DC as he came from behind to beat Zizou Bergs on Monday.
Evans will play Frenchman Corentin Moutet from 6pm Thursday, with Britain’s Cameron Norrie defeating fellow Brit Billy Harris and then upsetting second seed Lorenzo Musetti to set up an encounter with American Brandon Nakashima from 4pm.
On the WTA side Katie Boulter suffered an early exit to Greece’s Maria Sakkari, two weeks after a second round defeat to Argentine Solana Sierra at Wimbledon.
Venus Williams accepted a main-draw wildcard and became the oldest player since Martina Navratilova to win a tour-level singles match.
The 45-year-old defeated fellow American Peyton Stearns 6-3 6-4 for her first singles victory since August 2023.
It was Williams’ first singles match in 16 months and the unranked seven time Grand Slam singles champion will face Polish fifth seed Magdalena Frech in the next round.