Emma Raducanu ended decades of jinx for the British women with a stunning performance, surely her best performance since the 2021 US Open final, to beat Diane Parry in front of a raucous French crowd.
The win completed Great Britain’s stunning and unexpected 3-1 victory over France, the competition’s sixth-placed team, and sent them through to the Billie Jean King Cup finals in Seville in November.
The Brits qualified for the new-look finals week for the first time, even though they earned a wildcard thanks to hosting the competition in Glasgow in 2022. For the last such display you have to go back to 1990, when the team featuring Jo Durie and Clare Wood lost to Austria in the quarter-finals.
After the 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 victory, which lasted exactly 2 hours and 52 minutes, the victorious Raducanu said, “I don’t know who said that the English cannot play on clay.” “But today was a bit of a test [showed] We can do it.”
It’s hard to know what was more impressive: the technical level of Raducanu’s tennis from start to finish, the stamina she showed in earning her second comeback win from defeat in as many days, or the mental steel with which she bounced back after missing two matches. he scored in the penultimate service game.
Suffice it to say, it was a spectacular affair and culminated in a grand finale with Raducanu dominating the final set tiebreak with a flawless run of points, hitting every first serve and producing some magical comebacks.
He had never played in such an atmosphere before; At least two and a half thousand French fans had gathered him in a venue rightly called Le Chaudron (The Cauldron). But he channeled negative energy into his strokeplay and found deep reserves of energy and inspiration when he needed it most.
The significance of this result should not be underestimated as Great Britain have not defeated another grand slam nation in the BJK Cup (formerly the Fed Cup) since 1981 when Sue Barker and Virginia Wade filled the singles ranks. For much of the 1990s and early 2000s, the team was stuck in the second and even third tier of the competition alongside minnows such as Armenia and Egypt.
Raducanu said after his win: “I am very happy to make it to the finals and after all these trials I think we deserved it on our own merit.”
She also thanked teammate Katie Boulter, who recorded her first victory at the Tour level on clay by beating Clara Burel 7-5, 6-0 earlier in the day.
“Katie did a great job this morning and it helped us a lot going into this match knowing we were 2-1. In the worst-case scenario, the decider goes to the doubles. “But of course I didn’t want to get to that point because they have one of the best, probably the best doubles teams in the world. “
Earlier, Boulter had attributed much of his success to a message he received from Raducanu overnight, consoling him over the 6-2, 6-0 toweling he suffered at the hands of Parry on the first day.
“I definitely replayed that game a few times last night,” said Boulter, who admitted he didn’t get much sleep. “Actually, I just wanted to improve my performance.
“The most important thing was that I came out today and fought and kept fighting. I just played it my way. “I actually got a very, very sweet message from Emma last night and it really kicked off my day after her incredible performance. [against Caroline Garcia on the first afternoon].
“That was the main thing that kept me going today. He said a few nice words that mean a lot from someone like him. He is an absolute star and I have great respect for what he does in the sport, his style of play and how ruthless he is. I have a lot to learn from him.”
The French arrived with higher rankings, home advantage and greater expertise on clay. But they are also famous for being flaky. This culminated in captain Julien Benneteau’s curious decision to leave his best player to Burel, who had only played one singles match before in the tournament.
Burel served but broke in the first set against Boulter, whereupon her nerves seemed to have deserted her. He could barely find the field in the final game of an increasingly one-sided match and was ridiculed by his own fans. We can only hope that Burel is not too hurt by this experience, as he is a former world junior number 1 who can achieve a lot in the game.