Emma Raducanu vs Victoria Azarenka: What time are the big matches in Cincy
Emma Raducanu gained a confidence boosting win at the Western & Southern Open on Tuesday as she beat tennis icon Serena Williams in the opening round, but there is no respite for the teenager as she will be on double duty on Wednesday with matches in both the singles and the doubles.
The reigning US Open champion got the better of 23-time Grand Slam winner Williams in straight sets in their much-hyped clash and she will face another former world No 1 in Victoria Azarenka, who got the better of Kaia Kanepi, for a place in the third round.
The British No 1’s match-up with Azarenka will also be her first clash against the Belarusian.
“I remember more recently when she was playing in the US Open and made the final in 2020 during the bubble, I was studying for my exams,” Raducanu said.
“I hadn’t played tennis in like two, three months, and I was kind of just dreaming that one day I’m going to play on Ashe, and one day I’m going to be at that level and playing these great players myself. Everything felt so far away.”
The teenager will also be in doubles action later in the day as she will team up with Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina. It will be Raducanu’s second top-level doubles clash as she partnered Clara Tauson at the Citi Open, but they lost their opener.
The pair will face Lucie Hradecka and Sania Mirza in the opening round and if they come through that encounter then they will take on seventh seeds Jelena Ostapenko and Lyudmyla Kichenok in round two.
World No 1 Iga Swiatek will open her Western & Southern Open campaign against former US Open champion Sloane Stephens.
Follow the Western & Southern Open with T365’s live scores centre…
The Pole is looking to bounce back after suffering a surprise third-round defeat at the hands of Beatriz Haddad Maia in Toronto last week. Stephens has also struggled for form in recent months as she slipped down to world No 57 in the WTA Rankings.
What time is the Emma Raducanu vs Victoria Azarenka, Iga Swiatek vs Sloane Stephens?
The Raducanu-Azarenka clash is scheduled to be the second clash on Centre Court with it set to start at 18:00 BST (1pm local time) on Tuesday.
The Swiatek-Stephens encounter is expected to start at 20:00 BST.
Other big matches on the WTA side:
Caty McNally vs Ons Jabeur (5) 16:00 BST
Elena Rybakina vs Garbine Muguruza (3) 19:00 BST
Emma Raducanu-Elena Rybakana vs Lucie Hradecka-Sania Mirza 20:30 BST
Veronika Kudermetova vs Simona Halep (15) 23:30 BST
Aryna Sabalenka (6) vs Anna Kalinskaya 00:00 BST (Thursday morning)
Paula Badosa (3) vs Ajla Tomljanovic 01:30 BST (Thursday morning)
How to watch the Western & Southern Open?
Over the top streaming service Amazon Prime Video will broadcast both the ATP and WTA events from Cincinnati in the United Kingdom and Ireland this week.
Tennis Channel and Tennis Channel Plus will air the tournament in the United States with TVA Sports, DAZN and TSN covering Canada.
Those in Australia – and a few European countries – can watch on Bein Sports.
