For the first time since her surprise U.S. Open triumph in 2021, Emma Raducanu will contest a trophy match. The top seed at the WTA 250 Transylvania Open in Cluj-Napoca advanced to the final by defeating unseeded Oleksandra Oliynykova 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 in Friday’s semifinal.

Raducanu had been 0-3 in tour-level semifinals since her run of 10 consecutive victories at Flushing Meadows in 2021, where she became the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam singles title in the Open Era. She broke that streak by outlasting world No. 91 Oliynykova in a match that lasted two hours and 49 minutes.

The Brit received medical attention on her shoulder late in the first set but still built a 7-5, 3-1 advantage. Oliynykova, who parlayed a headline-grabbing performance against 2025 champion Madison Keys at the Australian Open into her first-ever tour-level semifinal this week, responded strongly. The Ukrainian won five straight games, seven of eight, to take the second set and became the first player to break serve in the third set.

Raducanu recovered in the decider, winning 16 consecutive points from 2-1, 15-15, and ultimately closing out the match after surviving a tense seventh game in which she failed to convert two match points on the return and then served out the victory after saving a pair of break points. She came from a break down in the final set to complete the comeback.

Raducanu credited the crowd and expressed a strong connection to the setting, saying she really feels “at home” in Romania, the birthplace of her father. She singled out the match-long challenge posed by her opponent and praised the support that helped her through the encounter.

“I think all props to my opponent today. Oli, she played incredible and makes it so tricky to get any ball past her,” Raducanu said afterwards. “You think it’s past her and then the ball is on your baseline or your sideline, so it’s so difficult.

“I’m most proud of how I competed, how I came back in the third set, and how I managed the match, but I don’t know if I could’ve done it without everyone’s support today.”

© 2026 Horvath Tamas

Oleksandra Oliynykova reached her first WTA semifinal at the Transylvania Open with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over No. 4 seed Wang Xinyu. The 25-year-old, wearing temporary bat tattoos on her face in keeping with the tournament theme, is two wins away from a first title at the Transylvania Open.

The Ukrainian refugee recorded her first WTA match win in Cluj-Napoca earlier this week and built on that momentum, saving 20 of 22 break points en route to the milestone. The match lasted two hours and one minute on Center Court.

“I’m so happy,” an overcome Oliynykova said in her on-court interview, draped in the Ukrainian flag. “For me now, it’s hard to describe what I feel. But for me, it’s so important to be here, to play for my country and to feel so much support. I’m really thankful to all the people here and I really hope to see you in the semifinals.

“I have so many emotions I forgot how to speak!” she added with a laugh.

Oliynykova has emerged as one of the breakout stories of the 2026 season, having pushed defending champion Madison Keys to a first-set tiebreaker at the Australian Open in her Grand Slam debut. A visually striking player with an unorthodox game, she debuted the small bat-shaped temporary face tattoos for this spooky-themed Transylvanian tournament.

“It’s kind of a celebration of the game for me,” said the 91st-ranked Oliynykova, who is projected to move up 20 spots in the WTA rankings because of this result. “When I was at the US Open, I saw these randomly in some store and I got the idea to put these on for the match. For this tournament, it’s special because it’s thematic and it was my dream to play her. I signed up for this tournament the last year but I didn’t even enter to qualies! For me, it means a lot to play here because of the tournament itself.”

Oliynykova, who goes by “Sashka,” has used her rising profile to speak on behalf of Ukraine, which the article notes has been under siege from Russian and Belarusian aggression since 2022. She wore a pro-Ukraine shirt to her Australian Open press conference and declined to shake the hand of opponent Anna Bondar after her second-round win in Cluj-Napoca, citing Bondar’s participation in a Russian government-sanctioned exhibition tournament in 2022.

“I’m coming from a country where there is war and you don’t know what tomorrow is going to bring. For me, it’s so important during such hard times in my country, I learned to enjoy every moment, every moment of tennis. In some way, I really celebrate the game. I’m doing this for sport, for tennis.

“I think the key, not only today but in general with the progress I’ve made, it’s tough for me that it be important whether I win or lose. I’m happy to win, of course, and it means a lot, but it’s not the most important thing. I learned to be in the moment and this is probably how I’m making it during this season and the previous season, which was super successful for me.”

Alexandra Eala produced a dramatic recovery at the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open, overturning a 4-0 deficit in the final set and surviving a match point to defeat Aliaksandra Sasnovich, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(5). The 20-year-old left-hander completed the comeback in two hours and 51 minutes before a sold-out crowd at the Abu Dhabi International Tennis Complex.

Sasnovich, a 31-year-old lucky loser in the draw, held match point at 5-2 in the decider but double-faulted on the crucial point. That error opened the door for Eala, who then forced a tiebreak and captured the last three points to clinch the encounter. Earlier in the match Eala trailed by a set and a break at 6-2, 1-0, and she also saved a break point while serving at 5-5 in the final set.

Sasnovich finished with more winners and points: 38 winners to Eala’s 22, and 121 overall points to 111. Her break-point conversion was higher as well, converting 6-of-11 opportunities compared to Eala’s 5-to-17. Still, the late moments belonged to Eala, whose return to form in the closing stages decided the match.

A visibly moved Eala spoke to 2016 Olympic champion Monica Puig after the victory. “I just think these moments are moments I only have dreamed about,” she said, as the jam-packed stadium chanted her name. “Selling out stadiums, it’s insane. Being in these matches in particular are really the ones that stick with you, and I’ve had a lot of them in the past year.”

Eala reflected on her opponent’s start and her own effort later in the match. “I think she started really well and in the tight moments, she also stepped up, especially with the serve and a lot of winners,” Eala added. “I really tried my best in those moments … to find the fight, and in the end, when I was coming back, I found it, so I’m very proud of that.”

The win sends Eala into the quarterfinals and extends a season that has already included a WTA 1000 semifinal in Miami, a WTA 250 final in Eastbourne and a WTA 250 semifinal in Auckland.