Emma Raducanu began her US Open preparations with a straight-sets victory over seventh seed Marta Kostyuk at the DC Open in Washington. The British No. 3 won 7-6 (4), 6-4 in a gruelling first-round encounter.
Playing her first singles match since a third-round exit at Wimbledon, Raducanu battled through a 71-minute opening set that featured multiple breaks of serve. She took the tie-break despite surrendering a 4-0 lead.
Raducanu, who also played doubles with Elena Rybakina this week, broke early in the second set to lead 3-0. Kostyuk fought back to level at 4-4, but Raducanu held serve and converted her second match point after a double fault from the Ukrainian.
“Extremely good win,” Raducanu said. “Playing Marta first round is extremely difficult. I’m happy with the way I fought through the first set and stayed tough when I needed to.”
In other action, Cameron Norrie defeated second seed Lorenzo Musetti 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 to reach the last 16. It was Norrie’s first win over a top-10 player since Indian Wells in 2023.
