Raducanu beats Bogdan to reach quarter-finals

Emma Raducanu

US Open champion Emma Raducanu eased into the Transylvania Open quarter-finals with a controlled 6-3 6-4 win over home favourite Ana Bogdan in the second round yesterday. Raducanu followed up her maiden WTA Tour win over Polona Hercog – a battling three-set victory on Tuesday – with a much improved performance against Bogdan and looked steady on serve, winning 87.5% of her first serve points. “It was so good to play a Romanian here. All the volunteers who go into making this tournament possible, we really appreciate their support. Ana was a great opponent,” Raducanu said after the match. “It’s definitely taking me some time to find my feet still. I’m taking some learnings from every match I play. I still don’t think I’m the finished product yet.” Raducanu, who announced herself on the grandest stage when she claimed the Flushing Meadows title as a qualifier last month, added that she has gifted her US Open trophy to the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA). “I just thought the LTA had done so much for me and I just wanted them to have it as a sign for everything they had done for me. It’s a little gift,” the British number one said. Raducanu will next face 19-year-old Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk.Just a matter of time before I break through: Murray Andy Murray said his defeat in the second round of the Vienna Open on Wednesday was just another bump in the road and the former world number one is convinced it is just a matter of time before he is going deep into tournaments and winning again. Murray had secured his first win over a top 10 player in 14 months after beating Hubert Hurkacz in the opening round, but the 34-year-old failed to advance further as he was outplayed 6-3 6-4 by Spanish teenager Carlos Alcaraz. Three-time Grand Slam champion Murray, who had hip surgeries in 2018 and 2019 and is currently ranked 156th, was also knocked out in the second round in Antwerp, third round at Indian Wells and second round in San Diego earlier this month. “I’m not going to keep losing in the second and third round of tournaments,” said Murray. “I will get better and I will improve and I will break through in one week, or two weeks, or a few months. It will happen. I obviously would like it to be happening quicker than what it is. “If I continue on that path and build up a little bit more consistency, be that little bit more clinical and a bit more ruthless, I will start winning more and have some deep runs, but it’s tough.” Murray reached the third round at Wimbledon this year and suffered a first-round exit at the US Open. He has not won a single’s title since his 2019 triumph in Antwerp. Minister advises Thiem to get vaccinated Former US Open champion Dominic Thiem was yesterday advised by Austria’s health minister to get jabbed against Covid-19 as controversy over who hasn’t been vaccinated continued to occupy the sport ahead of the 2022 Australian Open. Thiem, 28, and ranked nine in the world, said earlier this month that he was waiting for a vaccine from American pharmaceutical company Novavax, that uses an ‘inactivated’ protein-based formula. He did, however, insist that he would opt for one of the vaccines already approved if he had no other choice. “I can only ask Dominic Thiem to get vaccinated,” health minister Wolfgang Muckstein, a practising doctor, told Austrian media. “The inactivated vaccines may not be available until 2022, and there is no indication that they have any advantages over current vaccines.” He also warned of the risk of “long Covid”, including for young people and athletes, with symptoms of fatigue, decreased concentration, body pain and respiratory problems. “We also have patients barely 30 years old in intensive care,” he added as Austria faces a sharp rise in contamination. The minister said he had written to Thiem to offer him a meeting “in order to remove his uncertainties”. (Agencies)