Emma Raducanu ‘really proud’ to overcome ‘moments of adversity’ in quarter-final victory over Maja Chwalinska at Transylvania Open

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Emma Raducanu progressed into the semi-finals of the Transylvania Open with relatively little fuss after dispatching Maja Chwalinska in Cluj. Raducanu is targeting some morale-boosting silverware at WTA 250 level following her second-round exit at the Australian Open last month. The British No. 1 now faces a quick turnaround with a semi-final against Oleksandra Oliynykova coming up on Friday.

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Emma Raducanu continued her fine week at the Transylvania Open after advancing to the semi-finals with a straight-sets victory over Maja Chwalinska.

Raducanu powered her way past the Pole with a 6-0 6-4 victory to set up a last-four clash against Ukrainian Oleksandra Oliynykova following a professional display against Chwalinska in Cluj.

The British No. 1 drew first blood with a bagel in a mere 25 minutes but was made to work harder in the second set when Chwalinska broke back to bring the set back on serve at 3-3.

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However, Raducanu would go on to secure a double break and wrapped up the contest on her first match point.

"I'm very happy with my performance today," she said in her on-court interview.

"I think I played a great match from the beginning and pleased I could get off to that start. Of course, as always, there's going to be some moments of adversity that you need to overcome. I’m really proud of how I did that in the second set.

"Maja is a really tricky opponent who moves very well and has great hand skills. She's done a great job this week, qualifying and coming all the way here, so I'm really pleased to overcome her today."

Oliynykova is up next for Raducanu on Friday after she dispatched Wang Xinyu in her quarter-final clash earlier on Thursday.

Raducanu said that there has not been any time to do much research on her opponent before what will be their first meeting since an ITF clash in China almost eight years ago.

"I saw a little bit [of her match], as she was playing before me, but I was preparing for my match, so that’s something [the preparation] I'll get to overnight," Raducanu said.

"I didn't have much time last night to kind of get ready for this one, so I’m just really focusing on recovery.

"Each match, no matter the scoreline, takes a lot out of you. You just have to be so focused for however long it takes. You need to just recover."

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Thursday's match was certainly more straightforward than Raducanu's second-round clash against Kaja Juvan on Wednesday, when she had to recover from 5-0 down before winning 11 straight games to win 7-5 6-1.

"I do not think I have ever come back from 5-0 down before so that is a first to add to the experience, thank you for staying and waiting so long, it means a lot," she said after that match.

"Thank you for the support, it really got me through some tricky moments in that first set. Kaja was playing some great tennis, was putting me on the back foot straight away and I thought I was being aggressive, going for my shots.

"I was missing and not executing but at least I could say that I was kind of trying to play on my terms, that was the goal for me."

That followed on from a 6-0 6-4 first-round win over Greet Minnen on Monday, as Raducanu begins life without former coach Francisco Roig following their split last week.

Elsewhere, it was also a good day for Britain's Katie Boulter, after she progressed into the Ostrava Open semi-finals with a 6-3 6-2 win over Linda Fruhvirtova.

But Sonay Kartal's run at the Abu Dhabi Open ended after being beaten 6-0 6-2 by Sara Bejlek in the quarter-finals.

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