Emma Raducanu urged to stick with Dmitry Tursunov by former British No 1: ‘Her tactics were good’

Emma Raducanu made light of Serena Williams in their much-talked about Western & Southern Open match and former British No 1 Greg Rusedski admits he was impressed with her game against the American.

British No 1 Raducanu linked up with Dmitry Tursunov again in Cincinnati after the Russian was unable to join her at the Canadian Open. Tursunov, though, is only trial with Raducanu admitting before Tuesday’s match they still have to see if they are a good fit.

“We just need to see how we work with each other, how we complement each other. That’s it, I guess. It’s too early to tell,” she said.

But they got off to an excellent start at the WTA 1000 tournament in Ohio as the teenager produced an assured display against the 23-time Grand Slam winner to secure a 6-4, 6-0 victory.

It was a morale-boosting win for Raducanu, who has struggled in recent months, and Rusedski liked what he saw from the 19-year-old in terms of tactics, adding it could be Tursunov’s influence.

“I’ve seen some improvements in her game actually,” he told Amazon Prime. “I really like the serve out wide on the deuce side to Serena’s forehand.

“I thought her tactics were good, standing a little further back on the return of serve to buy herself some more time. I think there was a lot of positives there and she’s hired Dmitry Tursunov on a two-week trial.

“I’ve seen areas of her game which seem to be a little bit better. I just hope they stay together for a long period of time.

“It’s about consistency for Emma and if she gets the consistency, she will get back to where she was really threatening at tournaments and at Slams.”

Raducanu has gone through several coaches since she made her breakthrough on the WTA Tour last year as she worked with Nigel Sears when she made it to the fourth round at Wimbledon while Andrew Richardson was her mentor when she won the US Open.

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She only had a short-term agreement with Richardson and started working with Torben Beltz in November, but they went their separate ways in April and she has worked with coaches from the LTA on an interim basis since then.

The Western & Southern Open is Raducanu’s final warm-up event before her US Open title defence with the final Grand Slam of the year starting on August 29 at Flushing Meadows in New York.