Wimbledon Day 3 preview: Raducanu draws a familiar foe, Osaka tests her footing

WIMBLEDON -- Emma Raducanu famously won the 2021 US Open as an unprecedented 18-year-old qualifier. Two years earlier, an unseeded Marketa Vondrousova reached the Roland Garros final at the age of 19.

That kind of precocious result can produce mind-bending pressure in the mind of a teenager -- not to mention massive expectations from the outside.

“I feel like she had it way worse because she is from bigger country,” Vondrousova said of Raducanu. “She had crazy pressure. I feel like she has it in every tournament all the time.”

Indeed, Great Britain has a population of 68 million -- six times the Czech Republic’s 10.6 million -- and Raducanu has been the focus of intense scrutiny for the past four years. After advancing to the second round here on Monday, her picture was featured on the front and back pages of at least three different London tabloids.

Back home, Vondrousova started experiencing a degree of that attention after winning the Wimbledon title two years ago.

On Wednesday, they meet in a second-round match of Grand Slam champions that has generated enormous interest here in Raducanu’s country of residence since she was two years old.

“I remember watching her when I was young making the final of the French,” Raducanu told reporters. “She was so young there. Always seemed like way above me, way further ahead than me. Then she had wrist surgery and then came back and won Wimbledon, which is incredible. So she’s a really, really talented player.”

Vondrousova has nice things to say about Raducanu, too.

“It must have been crazy for her to live all of that,” Vondrousova said. “But, yeah, I feel like now she’s getting better and better. I feel like now she kind of found her way maybe into tennis and the matches again. 

“I feel like she really belongs here where she is, and yeah, she’s a great player.”

We break down Wednesday’s marquee matches:

Naomi Osaka vs. Katerina Siniakova

Head-to-head: 1-all, but they haven’t played in more than six years.

Siniakova was the last player from the top half of the draw to reach the second round after her match with No. 5 Zheng Qinwen was postponed to Tuesday.

The 29-year-old from the Czech Republic scored a 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 upset in 2 hours and 25 minutes on another dizzyingly hot day. That could be a factor, because Osaka completed her first-round match Monday.

Since returning from childbirth, Osaka has diligently strived to improve her game on the two surfaces on which she has yet to win a major title. After a first-round loss on the clay in Madrid, she played a WTA 125 in Saint Malo, France -- and won it. 

Grass has proved more difficult. Osaka lost two of three matches in Berlin and Bad Homburg, but advanced to the second round here with a 6-4, 7-6 (4) win over qualifier Talia Gibson. Her serve works well on the slick surface, Osaka said, but her footwork needs, well, work.

“This tournament, I don’t put a lot of pressure on myself now,” Osaka said. “I’ve had a really good talk with [coach] Patrick [Mouratoglou] before this. He says he can sense that I put a lot of expectations on myself. I know that I do, too. In a weird way, the more time passes, the more stressed I get, because I feel like I should be doing better.

Now I wouldn’t say that I don't care about results, but I'm more caring about the effort that I put into every point. I hope eventually it will lead to what I want it to.”

Marketa Vondrousova vs. Emma Raducanu

Head-to-head: 2-1, Vondrousova, who won their last match 6-3, 6-4 earlier this year in the first round at Abu Dhabi.

Technically, they’re both unseeded, but have demonstrated a distinct ability to navigate their way on grass. Vondrousova was a 6-1, 7-6 (3) winner over No. 32 McCartney Kessler, while Raducanu defeated British wildcard Mingge (Mimi) Xu 6-3, 6-3.

“She is 30-something now, so she’s very high in the rankings,” Vondrousova said. “I feel like she’s coming back where she belongs. She has both strong forehand, backhand. I expect tough one on Wednesday.”

Coming off a layoff following shoulder surgery, Vondrousova has come alive on grass, winning six straight matches, five of them coming on her way to the title in Berlin, when she beat World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals. Her history at Wimbledon, where she’s now 9-5, will sustain her -- except, perhaps, for one loss. Vondrousova was defeated in her first three matches at the All England Club, from 2017-19. And then in 2021, after collecting her first victory ever, she lost in the second round -- to Raducanu.

Needless to say, this one promises to be a lively confrontation.

“Really difficult match,” Raducanu said. “Amazing grass court player. I’m going to need to play very well to get over the line.”

No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka vs. Marie Bouzkova

Head-to-head: 2-1, Sabalenka, but Bouzkova won their last match, a year ago in the Washington D.C. semifinals.

To get here, Sabalenka was a 6-1, 7-5 winner over qualifier Carson Branstine and Bouzkova handled Lulu Sun 6-4, 6-4.

The World No. 1 took six of the first seven games against Branstine. In retrospect, after trailing 5-4 in the second, she’s happy she had to win the last three games to advance.

“I think it was really good for me to have this little fight in the second set just to, like, see where my level is at, if I’m mentally ready to fight,” Sabalenka said. “I think I’m ready.”

Bouzkova has won nine matches at Wimbledon – one fewer than her total for the other three Grand Slams – but lost her only grass-court encounter this year in Eastbourne.

No. 4 Jasmine Paolini vs. Kamilla Rakhimova

Head-to-head: 0-0, but Paolini won their only previous match three years ago in an ITF 100K.

Both players came back to win their first-round match in three sets. Paolini defeated Anastasija Sevastova 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, while Rakhimova was a 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 winner over Aoi Ito.

Paolini’s characteristic smile might have been the difference.

“I am going to lose a tennis match and trying to smile a little bit,” Paolini said, “because I feel that it can relax me a little bit. Somehow I get less nervous when I do this.”

No. 6 Madison Keys vs. Olga Danilovic

Head-to-head: 0-0.

Keys was a 6-7 (4), 7-5, 7-5 winner over a clearly ailing Elena-Gabriela Ruse and Danilovic defeated Zhang Shuai 6-2, 6-4.

After winning the Australian Open, Keys said her mindset hasn’t changed that much.

“I think that the pressure to finally win a slam -- obviously I finally did it -- so that pressure is lessened,” she said. “But I think as a typical tennis player, you kind of change into, `Well, now I want to do that again.’ You just kind of go into the next slam knowing that you want to win that slam.”

Katie Boulter vs. lucky loser Solana Sierra

Head-to-head: 0-0.

When Boulter upset No. 9 seed Paula Badosa in three sets on Centre Court, joining Raducanu and Sonay Kartal in the second round, it completed the best day for Great Britain in the Open Era. Seven Britons, including four men, scored victories.

Sierra’s appearance in the Round of 64 might be even more amazing. She had a match point in her final round of qualifying against Talia Gibson but eventually lost the match. The 21-year-old Argentine slipped into the main draw when Greet Minnen withdrew -- and her 6-2, 7-6 (8) victory over Olivia Gadecki guaranteed her a 99,000-pound payday.

No. 13 Amanda Anisimova vs. Renata Zarazua

Head-to-head: 2-0, Anisimova, but neither match was at the WTA Tour-level.

Anisimova defeated Yulia Putintseva 6-0, 6-0 in 44 minutes, winning 51 of 70 points. Zarazua was a 6-0, 6-3 winner over retiring Yanina Wickmayer.