By Eleanor Crooks
Copyright independent
Emma Raducanu claimed a first victory in China with a straight-sets success against Spain’s Cristina Bucsa in Beijing.
As the 30th seed, Raducanu received a bye in the first round of the China Open but she looked sharp from the start in a high-quality 6-3 6-3 victory.
Raducanu had faced Bucsa twice before this season – losing narrowly in Singapore and then winning comfortably on the grass at Queen’s Club – and there was little to choose between them in a compelling first set.
The difference was Raducanu’s serve, with the British number one saving six break points, four of them in the opening game, and hitting four aces.
Raducanu made the breakthrough in the eighth game, with Bucsa serving a double fault on break point and the 22-year-old extended her run of games to five to lead 2-0 in the second set.
She missed a chance to make it six and was then broken for the only time in the match, but Raducanu quickly got on the front foot again and powered through to a third-round clash with fifth seed Jessica Pegula.
It was a special win for Raducanu – whose mother is from China – and she looked noticeably happier than she did last week in Korea, when she held match points against Barbora Krejcikova only to lose.
“Super difficult, Cristina was playing amazing,” she said on Sky Sports. “I’m very happy to have gotten over it and after a tough one last week to bounce back. I really want to do well here. I’m half Chinese so it’s great to come back here.”
Raducanu then received hearty applause from the local fans for speaking in Mandarin.
Also through to the third round is Sonay Kartal after a very impressive 6-3 6-0 victory over 14th seed Daria Kasatkina – her third win against a top-20 player this season.
And Kartal will have high hopes of going further with unseeded Australian Maya Joint up next.
Top seed Iga Swiatek wasted little time in beating Yue Yuan 6-0 6-3 but US Open semi-finalist Naomi Osaka was upset 1-6 6-4 6-2 by Aliaksandra Sasnovich.
Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen, meanwhile, made her return on home soil following elbow surgery with a 6-3 6-2 victory over Emiliana Arango.
