Porsche Tennis Grand Prix: Emma Raducanu beats brave Tamara Korpatsch and clears Swiatek showdown
US Open winner Emma Raducanu (WTA No. 12) has reached the quarterfinals at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix with a 6:0, 2:6, 6:1 victory over Tamara Korpatsch - and now meets the measure of all things in women's tennis.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Apr 21, 2022, 09:17 pm
It all looked like a fast evening for the new Porsche brand ambassador : Raducanu came onto the court with just the right mix of aggressiveness and patience, while Korpatsch - as the lucky loser in the field - was completely beside himself at the beginning. Her second serve always offered Raducanu a target (Korpatsch only scored one of eight points in round one), as well as many frame hits and slight mistakes. So it was 6:0 quite quickly, the Hamburg native had just scored seven points.
Korpatsch, world number 118. and in round 1 with a strong win over Camila Giorgi, was bandaged on the right calf, she took a short break in the set break, which didn't seem to help at first - the first game also went away quickly. Then the turning point: a long rally, Korpatsch attacked well and parried Raducanu's lob with an unusual forehand drive from the reverse run, to great applause from the Stuttgart spectators. From then on, things went well for the 26-year-old: her no-frills basic strokes were spot on, she repeatedly put Raducanu on the defensive and – keyword controlled offensive – scored a point and even equalized the set.
“Tamara played incredible tennis in the second set. As soon as I played too short, she dominated. I didn't do that much wrong at all," said Raducanu in retrospect.
Korpatsch then ran away from the decisive set too quickly at first: After a tight game at the start, there were again too many simple mistakes, Raducanu quickly made it 3-0, and in the end she played the lead confidently to the end. However, respect to Korpatsch, who didn't give up, fended off a match point at 1:5 and had another chance to break - but without success.
"Sometimes you just have to face the storm," Raducanu explained the turnaround.
Raducanu now against Swiatek - "They have no expectations of me here"
The big question could be how much she can withstand the expected storm on Friday: Raducanu will meet world number 1 Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals. The 2020 French Open winner is known to love sand more than anything and currently has 20 match wins in a row . And has only lost three games in her last three matches...
Raducanu has an advantage here: "There are no expectations of me here" - a fact that had already inspired her a lot at the US Open 2021.