It has taken just one match for Rennae Stubbs to change her mind about Emma Raducanu.
Since her stunning US Open title run in 2021, the former British number one has struggled for the vast majority of the time since that moment.
Numerous injuries and coaching changes have hindered Raducanu’s progress, but she has produced a solid run at the ongoing Miami Open.
Raducanu is into the quarter-finals and one of her performances on the way to that stage caught the eye of multi-time Grand Slam doubles champion, Rennae Stubbs.
What made Rennae Stubbs change her mind about Emma Raducanu?
Emma Raducanu’s 2021 US Open run proved what she is capable of when fit and healthy, as she won the title as a qualifier and without dropping a set.
The 22-year-old has shown glimpses of that form since, but the consistency has been sorely lacking, but could that be about to change?
Staring down the barrel of defeat, Raducanu prevented Emma Navarro from serving for the match, before claiming a 7-6(6), 2-6, 7-6(3) win.
This was her first career match-win against a top 10 player on a hard court and only her third on any surface, and Rennae Stubbs thinks this performance will help to start a run for Raducanu that will see her get back into the top 10.
“Emma Raducanu, has she turned her career around with that win against Emma Navarro? There’s no doubt that has possibly turned her career around. Everyone is going to say hyperbole,” Stubbs said on her self-titled podcast.
“You don’t understand what it takes to gut through a match like that. In all sense of the word defeat, she should have lost that match. Now she should have won it and then Emma looked like she should have won it.
“It was one of those matches which went back and forth and Emma Navarro – beware of her down a set or a break and someone serving for the match because that’s when she has won so many matches this year.
“But Emma stepped up in that match more than I have ever seen her step up since she won the US Open. She went for it, she was aggressive. The only time when she wasn’t aggressive was when she served for the match at 5-3.
“I was like if Emma wins this match she has to stay aggressive and she did that. I think that gave her so much confidence and she wins the next match with a retirement. Then to beat Anisimova who took out Andreeva the night before!”
Who will Emma Raducanu face for a spot in the Miami Open semi-finals?
For Raducanu to reach the Miami Open semi-finals for the first time, she will have to overcome Jessica Pegula.
The World number four beat Bernarda Pera, before coming from a set down to defeat Ukraine’s Anna Kalinskaya. Pegula then dispatched Marta Kostyuk 6-2, 6-3 to set up her third meeting with Raducanu.
The 2024 US Open runner-up won their first match at the 2022 Cincinnati Masters, before Raducanu outlast Pegula at the 2024 Eastbourne International. After Raducanu beat Navarro, Pegula had some kind words for her next opponent.
“When she’s playing at a top level, she belongs with the top players. I just think she struggled a little bit with injuries, finding consistency,” Pegula said.
“It’s tough nowadays, the depth is so good if you can’t really rack in those matches and play a lot and get those wins under your belt it can be really difficult to keep that confidence.
“I can understand why she was probably a little emotional. Winning two matches at a WTA 1000, beating a Top 10 player — that’s massive. Sometimes it takes a physical and mental battle to get through that.
“And in that moment, you’re thinking, `My gosh, how am I going to do this? Not again?’ For her to come back in the third and win the tiebreaker. I’m sure she feels like there’s a monkey off her back.”
