Over the past four years, a series of injuries, coupled with the mental burden of such a crazy focus, means that Raducanu has not opened the United States to her “happy place.”
Since arriving in New York last weekend, Raducanu has cut a fun character — especially during her outing with Carlos Alcaraz, in the remodeled mixed doubles match.
She felt that she could best realize her potential.
This was evident in the win directly over Shibahara, who ranked 130th, who quickly settled when the gust of wind whipped around Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Starting with Starting is Raducanu’s strong statement of intention, which serves her platform for the dominant opening set in 26 minutes.
When Raducanu is good at sports and encounters the smallest non-compulsory error, her opponent lacks quality help.
Shibahara only competed in her second Grand Slam Inspectors match, losing four of the seven breakout points she faced and experiencing 36 unmandatory mistakes when the benchmark match broke.
Raducanu, by contrast, was hardly bothered by her increasingly threatening serve and cleaned up behind the courtroom.
Raducanu will face Indonesian qualifiers Janie Tjen or Russia’s 24th seed Veronika Kudermetova in the second round.
