Wimbledon 2021 tennis - Britain's Emma Raducanu continues incredible run with victory against Sorana Cirstea

ByDan Quarrell

Updated 03/07/2021 at 15:30 GMT

Having overcome Marketa Vondrousova, a former Grand Slam finalist, in the second round, British rising star Emma Raducanu produced another remarkable performance as she overcame Sorana Cirstea to continue her remarkable progression at Wimbledon. She will next face another tough test against Ajla Tomljanovic in the fourth round after she beat former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko.

British teenager Emma Raducanu continued her stunning run at Wimbledon 2021 with another upset, this time against Sorana Cirstea, 6-3, 7-5, to reach the fourth round.

The 18-year-old, who shocked 2020 French Open finalist Marketa Vondrousova in the second round, produced another nerveless and hugely impressive display to overcome the Romanian on Court One.

Raducanu, who was sitting her A-Levels just two months ago, slipped behind early on as Cirstea, the world number 45, established a 3-1 lead in the opening set with a break of serve.

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But the Londoner swiftly demonstrated her battling qualities in abundance as she broke straight back to level, then followed that up with another to win five games in succession and claim the first set.

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Not only that, but Raducanu then won the first three games of the second set to make it eight on the bounce as Cirstea struggled to compete with her intensity from the back of the court and floundered on serve.

The Romanian, to her credit, fought her way back to level at 3-3 with the crucial second set suddenly in the balance. But it was Raducanu who would pounce yet again in ruthless fashion to break at 6-5 and clinch another famous victory after one hour and 40 minutes on her Wimbledon debut.

The teenager is making her Grand Slam debut, having only made her maiden appearance on the WTA Tour in June, and is ranked number 338th in the world.

Emma Raducanu of Great Britain celebrates a point during her Ladies' Singles third Round match against Sorana Cirstea of Romania during Day Six of The Championships - Wimbledon 2021

Image credit: Getty Images

In reaching this match at all, Raducanu became the youngest British woman to reach the Wimbledon third round since Elena Baltacha in 2002. Now she has taken that one step further.

"I am so speechless right now," Raducanu said in an entertaining on-court interview. "I didn't know what my reaction would be, and then that just happened. I'm so, so grateful for all the support I had today.

"This is by far the biggest court I've played on. I think I coped quite well in the beginning, I just tried to hold my nerve.

"When I was packing to come into the bubble, my parents said, 'Aren't you packing too much match kit?' I think I'm going to have to do some laundry tonight!"

Raducanu will next face another tough test against Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia in the fourth round after she overcame former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko.

Wimbledon Day 5 highlights: Murray out, Djokovic through

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Watch daily evening highlights of all the best action from Wimbledon on Eurosport 1, plus the men's and women's finals live on Eurosport 2. All coverage is also available to stream via eurosport.co.uk and the Eurosport app.

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