France 1-1 Great Britain: Raducanu keeps British hopes alive

There were lots of deuce games but they all went Parry’s way. Her greater experience on the surface was evident as she displayed the full range of her shot-making. Boulter’s forehand, which began as such a weapon, soon broke down against Parry’s slice. 

From 0-2 down, the Frenchwoman reeled off 12 games in a row, sealing victory with an exceptional forehand winner. 

The day’s second singles also saw a big gap in experience between the two players on clay. Garcia has played more than 150 matches on the red dirt and won the majority of them. Raducanu, meanwhile, came into the match with a 50% winning record from just 12 matches in her career. 

Garcia started strongly and came through a hard fought opening set impressively in 46 minutes. 

The Frenchwoman is known for stepping in and taking returns early but it was Raducanu who deployed that tactic in the second set and it helped to turn the match in her favour. 

Once Raducanu had the momentum, she never looked back, continuing to dominate on return and keeping her ace count high too. 

Serving at 4-1 in the decider, Raducanu hit an ace to move within a game of victory, except she celebrated as though she’d won the match, walking to the net with a huge grin on her face. But she had to put the brakes on after a quick check of the scoreboard revealed there was still work to do. 

Garcia made her serve it out but Raducanu made no mistake, sealing victory with a powerful forehand drive volley. It was her first win over a Top 25 player since Indian Wells last year and just her fourth since she became a US Open champion in 2021. 

Raducanu said before the tie that she thinks clay could be a great surface for her in the future, but on this evidence she’s further along in her development than she thinks. 

 

Commenting on the score mix-up, she said: “I think sometimes I’m just super locked in that I don’t get the score. So I’m not sure what happened, but it was quite embarrassing. All I was thinking was, ‘if I lose this right now I’m going to look like a right muppet’. So I’m very happy that I managed to pull it through in the next game.” 

Raducanu’s victory certainly tees up the second day perfectly, with the reverse singles to come before a potential doubles decider if required. The winners will compete in November’s Finals in Seville. 

France still have the crowd and the clay on their side, but Great Britain have the momentum and Raducanu sent a clear message that she doesn’t feel disadvantaged. 

“I don’t mind playing against the crowd”, she said. “They can get as loud as they want. I think that’s a strength of mine. It was great to see so many Union Jacks out here, and great to hear the support of the bench. But ultimately it was just down to myself, my fight, and my performance. I’m very happy to have pulled it back and to give the crowd something to cheer for tomorrow.”