Join the Miguel Delaney: Inside Football newsletter and get behind-the-scenes access and unrivalled insightJoin the Miguel Delaney: Inside Football newsletterJoin the Miguel Delaney: Inside Football newsletterEmma Raducanu is one win away from her maiden WTA Tour title after reaching the final of the Transylvania Open.The British number one beat Oleksandra Oliynykova 7-5 3-6 6-3 in an epic semi-final to take her place in Saturday’s showpiece in Cluj.She now has a shot at winning her first tournament since her incredible US Open success in 2021 and announcing herself as a real force on the WTA Tour.It completed an impressive day for home tennis as Katie Boulter made it into the final of the Ostrava Open, meaning that two British women will compete in different WTA Tour finals on the same day for the first time.What sort of physical or mental condition top seed Raducanu will be in for the final against either Sorana Cirstea or Daria Snigur remains to be seen after she made it through one of the toughest matches of her career.It was a war of attrition for Raducanu against the eccentric Ukrainian, who, adorned in face tattoos, adopted some frustrating tactics, including heavy use of ‘moon balling’ and slices.The teary Briton was left physically shattered after a near three-hour battle.“What an incredible match,” she said during her on-court interview. “I think all props to my opponent today.“She played incredible makes it so tricky to put any ball past her. You think it’s past her, and then the ball is on your baseline or on your sideline so it’s so difficult.“I’m just most proud of how I competed, how I came back in the third set, how I managed the match.“I honestly don’t know if I could have done it without everyone’s support.”The world number 91 adopted her infuriating tactics especially well late in the first set after Raducanu had broken to go 5-4 up.It paid off as she broke back, but Raducanu stayed strong to claim another break in a mammoth game at 5-5 and then served the set out with relative ease.She then broke in the opening game of the second set to raise hopes of a more comfortable route to victory as the Briton opened up a 3-1 lead.But her Ukrainian opponent would just not go away and turned the set on its head with a run of five successive games to level up as Raducanu had no answers to her unusual style.Raducanu showed her fighting spirit after trailing 2-1 in the decider to took back control of the match,…
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2026-02-06 18:43:17
