Grand Slam US Open WTA
Raducanu handed favourable US Open draw and a clear path to a rankings rise
Raducanu has a favourable US Open draw and a chance to climb the rankings with a third-round run…
Emma Raducanu arrives at the US Open with a draw that gives her a real opportunity to advance her WTA ranking after missing out on a seed for the final major of 2025. The 2021 champion, who became the first player to win a Grand Slam after coming through qualifying, has not always matched that early flourish but has shown encouraging signs ahead of Flushing Meadows.
The 22-year-old pushed world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka close at Wimbledon and “went even closer to beating the best player in women’s tennis as she lost a third set tie-break earlier this month.” That recent form, combined with the luck of a first-round pairing against a qualifier, gives Raducanu a realistic chance to pick up more ranking points than she did in New York last year when she was beaten in round one.
If she wins her opening match, Raducanu could meet No 24 seed Veronika Kudermetova in round two, a fixture she will approach with confidence after beating the Russian on clay in Rome earlier this year. The draw becomes tougher in round three, where a meeting with Elena Rybakina is possible; Rybakina signalled a return to form with a convincing win against Sabalenka in Cincinnati last week.
A run to the third round in New York should be enough to lift Raducanu back into the top 30 of the WTA Rankings and put her on course to be seeded at the Australian Open in January. Raducanu has stated her target for the remainder of the year is to earn a seeding in Melbourne.
On her prospects, former world No 1 Mats Wilander said:
“I think what’s cool is that we’re seeing a better version than the one that she was when she was 18, even though she won the US Open,” said Wilander, as he prepares to join the Eurosport broadcasting team at the US Open.
“By a better version, I mean she’s still playing the same kind of tennis. She’s trying to be aggressive.
“She’s very complete in all aspects of her game and her serve has become better. Obviously, she’s stronger physically at 22 than she was at 18.
“Mentally, I’m not sure. I think mentally is the big question. Is she confident enough that she can overpower some of these players, because obviously (Aryna) Sabalenka and Iga (Swiatek) are bringing a different level than the players that she beat at the US Open four years ago.
“I don’t think we can look at Emma Raducano and say that she has another Grand Slam victory in her yet. She has to prove a few more things before we talk about her like that.
“But we are looking at an Emma Raducanu that can break into the top 10 here in a year or two, in my eyes, and I’m pretty convinced that she will break into the best players in the world.
“If we ask can she win another major? That’s another completely different question for another day.”
Raducanu begins her US Open campaign on Sunday and will play the first singles match on Louis Armstrong Stadium in 2025.
ATP French Open Grand Slam
Auger-Aliassime Reaches Career-High No. 4 After Breakthrough at Roland Garros
Auger-Aliassime rises to No. 4 after best Roland Garros run, tying second-highest Canadian rank. Now
Felix Auger-Aliassime moved to a career-high No. 4 in the ATP rankings following his deepest run at Roland Garros, where the 25-year-old reached the quarterfinals for the first time before losing to eventual finalist Flavio Cobolli. The result completed a personal Grand Slam milestone: having previously reached the quarterfinals or better at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open, he became the first Canadian man to reach the quarterfinals or better at all four majors in his career.
The rise from No. 6 to No. 4 surpasses his prior best of No. 5 and places him tied for the second-highest-ranked Canadian in ATP or WTA rankings history. The only other Canadians to reach the top four are Milos Raonic and Bianca Andreescu. Raonic went as high as No. 3 in 2016, following his run to the Wimbledon final that year, and Andreescu peaked at No. 4 in 2019 after winning the US Open.
Canadian tennis has seen seven players reach the top 10 in either ATP or WTA history, with official rankings available since 1973 for the ATP and 1975 for the WTA.
Auger-Aliassime still has ground to cover to move higher in the standings. He is 2,865 points behind the current world No. 3, Alexander Zverev, with the rankings showing Zverev at 7,305 points and Auger-Aliassime at 4,440.
The Canadian will shift his focus to grass. He begins his grass-court season this week at the ATP 250 event in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, entering as the No. 1 seed. After a first-round bye he will open against either Hubert Hurkacz or Marton Fucsovics.
The new ranking reflects a season of important progress for Auger-Aliassime and cements his place among the highest-ranked Canadians in modern tennis history.
ATP French Open Grand Slam
Flavio Cobolli’s Roland Garros run vaults him into ATP Top 10
Flavio Cobolli entered the ATP Top 10 after his first Grand Slam final at Roland Garros. New ranking
Flavio Cobolli’s breakthrough at Roland Garros produced a major ranking milestone. The 24-year-old reached his first Grand Slam semifinal and final in Paris and, despite losing the title match to Alexander Zverev in a five-set battle, climbed from No. 14 to No. 10 in the latest ATP rankings, marking his Top 10 debut.
Cobolli is the seventh Italian to enter the ATP Top 10 since the rankings began in 1973. He is also only the second Italian man in the past 50 years to contest the Roland Garros final, joining last year’s runner-up, Jannik Sinner. Born in 2002, Cobolli is the fifth man born in 2002 or later to reach the Top 10, following Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune, who were both born in 2003, and Lorenzo Musetti and Ben Shelton, who were both born in 2002.
The route to the final carried complicated circumstances. Cobolli advanced to the title match after countryman Matteo Arnaldi withdrew before their semifinal due to illness. Cobolli reflected on the day with mixed emotions: “When [Arnaldi] came to me almost one hour ago, I almost cried,” he said. “It’s something that you don’t expect at all. I was ready to play this match. When he came, I was completely sad for him.
“But at the same time, of course I’m really happy for the result that I reached this week. My dad also came to me right before him, and we had a big hug together with the whole team for achieving the Top 10. Every time that I make the best ranking, we all together have a big hug. We did the same routine as always.
“Yeah, now I’m sad and happy at the same time.”
Arnaldi, 25, leaps from No. 104 to No. 34 after reaching his first Grand Slam semifinal, moving to within four spots of his 2024 career-high of No. 30. Matteo Berrettini also recorded a significant rise, moving from No. 105 to No. 48 after reaching his first Grand Slam quarterfinal since 2022 on the terre battue. For the former No. 6, it was his first appearance at Roland Garros since 2021, following four years marked by injury and illness withdrawals.
French Open Grand Slam
Maja Chwalinska vaults to No. 21 after surprise run to Roland Garros final
Maja Chwalinska rises from No. 114 to No. 21 after reaching the Roland Garros final. into the Top 25
The new WTA rankings produced a major leap for Maja Chwalinska, who climbs from No. 114 to No. 21 after reaching the first Grand Slam final of her career at Roland Garros. The 24-year-old from Poland achieved a sequence of breakthroughs during the clay-court major.
Her run was historically improbable. Chwalinska became the lowest-ranked woman to reach the Roland Garros final in the WTA rankings era, which dates to 1975. She was also only the second player in the Open Era, woman or man, to advance to a Grand Slam final as a qualifier, following Emma Raducanu.
Before the tournament she had never beaten a Top 50 opponent. At Roland Garros she defeated four Top 50 players en route to the title match: Elise Mertens, Maria Sakkari, Anna Kalinskaya and Diana Shnaider. The result smashed her previous career-high of No. 113 and delivered several milestone debuts — Top 100, Top 50, Top 40 and Top 30 — with her ranking finishing just shy of the Top 20.
Asked after the final about the gap in level between the elite and those outside the Top 100, she said: “I know many, many great players that are ranked outside Top 100,” she said. “You know, it’s such a thin line now. I feel like a lot of things need to click, but yeah, for sure there so many great players. Yeah, I wish them all the best. I hope that my story these last days was inspiring for them, and I’ll see them in the—let’s say—Top 50 now.”
With few ranking points to defend until September, there is scope for further gains through the summer. Chwalinska plans a break before returning for the grass season. “I’m not going to play anything before grass, that’s before Wimbledon, that’s for sure. I definitely need some time to recharge,” she said. “Even before Roland Garros, I said that I need vacation after the tournament. So now it’s three weeks that I’m kind of like—not waiting, because I wanted to be here, but I just knew in the back of my head that I’m going for the vacation after French Open.
“Yeah, definitely need some time to recharge.”
The French Open champion, Mirra Andreeva, moves from No. 8 to No. 6, her best ranking this season and one spot shy of the career-high No. 5 she reached last year.
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