US Open 2025: Emma Raducanu loses out to ninth seed Elena Rybakina in third round
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British No.1 Emma Raducanu bowed out in the third round of the US Open after an impressive performance from 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina.
The ninth seed proved too strong for Raducanu on the Louis Armstrong Stadium – coming through 6-1, 6-2 in an hour and three minutes.
It’s the Kazakh’s second victory in two matches against Raducanu as she moves on to the fourth round for the first time in her career.
“Really happy with the performance – it’s not easy to play against Emma even when sometimes the score doesn’t show it,” Rybakina said. “She’s a tough competitor and I’m really happy with the way I played today.”
Raducanu leaves the US Open having made at least the third round at three different Grand Slams in a single season for the first time in her career.
The British star has won 26 matches on the WTA Tour this season – the highest tally of her career so far with several events still to come later this year.
Rybakina came into the US Open as one of the form players on tour having made semi-finals at her last three events – including a win over world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka – and the 26-year-old showed her quality, particularly on the serve and her forehand.
The Kazakh got off to a lightning start, striking the ball hard and flat into the Raducanu backhand. She got the opening break off the Brit’s first service game, going up 0-40 before eventually punching away a forehand winner on her second break point.
Raducanu managed to get a game on the board with a hold of serve, but Rybakina clinched the double break a few games later for a comfortable 5-1 lead.
Her task became even more challenging at the start of the second set. From 40-0 up in the opening game, the Briton made five unforced errors that saw the Kazakh take an all-important third break.
Rybakina is the WTA leader in points won on first serve this season and it notoriously hard to break – and so it proved for the British No.1.
The world No.10 won 83% (15/18) points on her first serve and didn’t face a break point throughout the match. Once she got the fourth break to take a 5-2 lead, Rybakina was able to see out what was a hugely impressive victory.
Coming up later, Cam Norrie faces former world No.1 Novak Djokovic in the first match of the night session on the Arthur Ashe Stadium.
