Emma Raducanu took Iga Swiatek by surprise in their Stuttgart Open quarter-final, who felt the British starlet played 'pretty loose' at the start of their match.
The former British No 1 had plummeted down the rankings after her lengthy spell out recovering from surgery on both her wrists.
But she's now got to the point of the season where every win will result in a significant points boost and her run to the quarter-finals this week will propel her closer to the world's top 200 by the start of next week.
Raducanu was always going to be up against it in her quarter-final clash as she was drawn against four-time major champion Swiatek.
Emma Raducanu made a good go of it against Iga Swiatek
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However, she got off to an impressive start by immediately breaking the world No 1.
They were level in the very next game as Swiatek broke back but Raducanu managed to force a tiebreak to decide the first set.
Swiatek's experience prevailed in the end before comfortably wrapping up the second set to progress to the semi-final.
The Polish tennis star praised Raducanu after their match for giving it her all in the first set.
However, Swiatek also felt confident that Raducanu's performance levels would dip in the second set.
"I hope she will be able to do it because for sure she has the game for it," Swiatek said.
"It was a pretty intense match so I am happy I was able to keep the intensity even though we played tough games for over two hours.
"It wasn’t easy, I had a lot of break points that I couldn’t convert.
Emma Raducanu escaped injury with a slip in the match
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"She started playing at the beginning pretty loose, like she had nothing to lose, and I totally get that. Sometimes it is like that.
"But I knew I was kind of questioning if she’s going to be able to keep the same intensity throughout the whole match.
"It wasn’t about service games or return games.
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Iga Swiatek feels Emma Raducanu will make it back to the top
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"I was just waiting for my chances to break back and I was sure that I’m going to get them."
Raducanu will now be gearing up for the back-to-back WTA 1000 events in Madrid and Rome with a real chance to climb even further up the rankings.
Huge points are on offer in both events, which could help improve her chances of making the main draw for the French Open.
