by Emma Raducanu will recapture the number one British ranking list after gaining her first meeting with the four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka in a confident way.
The collision was very expected, but proved to be a competition, with Raducanu conveniently achieving a 6: 4-6: 6 victory to achieve the quarter-finals of the Citi Open in Washington.
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Raducanu said about Sky Sports and said: “I thought it would be a really difficult match. Naomi won four slams, she was number one in the world, Masters won.
“She is so dangerous and on the hard places I think that she feels particularly comfortable. I knew that I really played well and managed my own service games that I am really proud of how I did it.
“I played some intruders in their service games after I got used to it a little. I am very satisfied with how I dealt with the ball speed and the conditions here in DC.”
The result means that 22-year-old Katie Boulter will overtake again to become the first-class British player to secure a seed for the US Open next month.
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Raducanu ended the two-year run of Boulter in June at the head of the domestic classification, but then slid back to 46 of the world after losing a narrow argument in the third round of Wimbledon with Aryna Sabalenka.
However, her two victories here could mean that Raducanu will return to the top 40, and she will definitely pass on Boulter against Maria Sakkari after her opening round.
It will be the Greek that Raducanu is playing next, and she did not drop a set in three previous meetings.
Raducanu was sharp against Osaka from the start, who was looking for the game two years ago after the birth of daughter Shai two years ago.
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A double mistake of the Japanese star gave Raducanu the first break in the fifth game and the British player was rock when she ended the opening set.
Raducanu is without a coach in Washington in the middle of the uncertainty about the future of her partnership with Mark Petchy and only hit the partner Alexis Canter in her corner, but there was no instruction in this performance.
At the beginning of the second movement of more mistakes from Osaka, she was helped to take another break, which created a first chance of the Raducanu surcharge 1-2, but could not take it.
Raducanu’s surcharge has improved significantly under Petchy and was her key weapon here when she went into a third quarter -finals in Washington with strong hopes to continue.
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However, Cameron Norrie could not match Raducanu.
Dan Evans’ hopes for another deep run in Washington two years after he won the title are also over after he lost 6: 2 7: 6 (4) to France’s Corentin Moutet.
Elsewhere, Venus Williams fell cheekily into straight sets in the second round in Polas Magdalena.
The 45-year-old was the oldest woman who, since Martina Navratilova in 2004, won a single game at tour level on Tuesday after an opening victory against Peyton Stearn.
Williams took over an early 2-1 lead against cheeky, but the 27-year-old replied with a dominant run of seven games in a row on the way to a 6-2 win with 6: 2.
