Elena Rybakina swept past Emma Raducanu 6-1, 6-2 in 62 minutes to move to the fourth round of the US Open 2025 on Friday night. Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, has advanced to the fourth round at Flushing Meadows for the first time in her seventh main-draw appearance.
The Kazakhstani has now completed the full set of second-week showings at all four Grand Slams. She will next face either No. 7 seed Jasmine Paolini or Marketa Vondrousova.
The 26-year-old Rybakina has now conceded just four games to Raducanu in two meetings combined. Their first clash came in the opening round of Sydney 2022, which was Raducanu’s fourth tournament since her stunning 2021 US Open triumph, where Rybakina cruised to a 6-0, 6-1 win.
“For some reason the US Open through the years wasn’t really successful for me. So hopefully this year it will change,” said Rybakina in her on-court interview.
Notably, Rybakina has enjoyed solid form, coming into the US Open off the back of three consecutive semifinal runs in Washington, Montreal and Cincinnati. At the start of August, Rybakina returned to the Top 10 after a four-month stint outside it. However, repeated losses from winning positions have been a cause for concern
As far as the US Open 2025 third round is concerned, the only moment of danger against Raducanu came at 4-2 up in the second set, when Rybakina failed to take her first two points for the double break. However, she finished a superb exchange with a backhand winner to bring up a third, and took it after pounding another return at Raducanu’s feet to draw the error.
“I’m really happy with the performance. It’s always not easy to play against Emma, sometimes the score doesn’t show but she’s a tough competitor,” Rybakina said.
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Elena Rybakina’s Struggle With Her Health
Notably, Elena Rybakina’s 2025 season, which has seen her compile a 44-16 record so far, has been notable not just for her consistency but her health. Her 2023 and 2024 seasons were littered with retirements and withdrawals, including ahead of her third-round match at the US Open a year ago. But there have been none since.
“I had big issues with insomnia. I think l2023, the whole year was pretty tough for me. I played a lot, and we had different schedule. I was playing a lot night sessions, and we didn’t have that rule yet that you cannot go on court after 11:00. So I’ve been playing a lot and, as I said, many night matches. With Billie Jean King Cup this season was kind of long,” Rybakina explained
“Of course, coming to the next season 2024, I started again pretty well, and it was so many tournaments. I was playing until the end almost. So my insomnia was there, and I was struggling almost the whole year. But now it’s much better. Now I have no issues, which I’m pretty happy,” she added.