Wimbledon 2025: World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka holds off home favourite Emma Raducanu at Centre Court
Sabalenka, a two-time semifinalist at the All England Club, on Friday (July 4, 2025) night fought back in both sets against the 2021 U.S. Open champion, who had been playing some of her best tennis since her title run at Flushing Meadows as a qualifier at age 18.
In a 74-minute first set, Sabalenka converted her eighth set point, which came 30 minutes after the first.
Raducanu went up 4-2, only to see Sabalenka reel off 11 of 12 points during one stretch while moving out front by a 5-4 score.
Then arrived an epic game, lasting 13 minutes and containing 22 points, eight deuces, and seven set points for Sabalenka — all ending with Raducanu holding serve.
Then, Raducanu had a set point while leading 6-5 in the tiebreaker, but Sabalenka saved it with a drop-shot winner and took the last three points of the set — ending it with a volley winner.
The fans provided extra energy for the British player, cheering wildly when Raducanu fired winners and exhaling "aww!" when she missed.
Sabalenka, a three-time Grand Slam champion, said she pretended the cheers were for her.
"Guys wow — what an atmosphere. My ears are still hurting. It was super loud," she said in an on-court interview.
In the second set, Raducanu broke to 3-1 and led 4-1 at the 1-hour, 35-minute mark, but Sabalenka reeled off the last five games.
Raducanu, ranked No. 40, had defeated 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova in the previous round.
"She pushed me really hard to get this win. I'm happy to see her healthy and back on track," Sabalenka said.
"I'm pretty sure that soon she's going to be back in the top 10."
Sabalenka reached the final at each of the past three Grand Slam tournaments, winning the US Open last September and finishing as the runner-up to Madison Keys at the Australian Open in January and to Coco Gauff at the French Open in June.
Raducanu frustrated by racket tension problem
Emma Raducanu expressed frustration with having to get a couple of her rackets re-strung during her third-round loss to top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka at Wimbledon.
The British player let leads slip in both sets of her 7-6(6) 6-4 loss at Centre Court on Friday with the retractable roof closed.
'I felt like the ball was flying. I had all my rackets strung up fresh for the match, and it just felt like it was pinging completely different,' Raducanu said.
'It could have been a little bit because the roof was on. I sent a couple rackets to be re-strung.
'But it takes, like, 20 minutes by the time they turn it over. Still, it was a bit difficult. So I'm frustrated with that part maybe, small details. But I don't think I could have made different choices. I think I should have just executed better.' Sabalenka agreed 'the balls were flying more,' she suspected, because of higher humidity with the roof closed.
The three-time Grand Slam champion said her team typically has extra rackets ready.
'They always have like two extra rackets with the higher tension and two extra rackets with lower tension. They prepare it. You don't have to wait for another racket,' Sabalenka said.
Sabalenka said she lost in the 2023 French Open semifinals to Karolina Muchova 'because I didn't have racket' with the right tension.
'We weren't prepared. I didn't have a right tension. I had to play with a lower tension. I didn't control the ball, didn't feel well,' she said.
'After that experience,' she continued, 'we learned it's four extra rackets in my team's bag just in case. You never know. You can wake up and feel great with one tension. Another day you wake up and you don't feel at all. You got to be prepared.'
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