immediately courtesy of a Stearns double fault. But it was just the start of a cat-and-mouse opening set. Raducanu immediately relinquished her advantage before breaking again when the American blew a 40-15 lead on her own serve.
Raducanu was the first to hold serve, taking a 3-1 lead. Stearns was still thrown after failing to close out the third game and she quickly gave Raducanu a double-break lead with another double fault.
Momentum suddenly switched again. Leading 4-1 40-0, the former US Open champion suffered a collapse, getting broken. It was the first of four games in a row won by Stearns, who got back on serve and put herself in the lead for the first time.
Raducanu recovered, breaking to serve for the set at 6-5. But the American refused to go away, forcing a tiebreak. Stearns raced into a 3-1 lead before the Brit won five points in a row, giving herself a set point.
It appeared she had won it when she hit a huge first serve and started heading back to her bench. But Stearns challenged and the ball was called out. Now forced to continue the set on a second serve, Raducanu hit a double fault. It took 74 minutes for her to finally win the first set, taking it on the next point.
Things didn’t get any easier. The world No. 70 needed 16 minutes to hold serve at the beginning of the second set, saving three break points. Stearns was dragged into a marathon game at 2-3 but she held on to draw level, denying Raducanu two chances to break.
After saving two more break points, Raducanu finally attacked the Stearns serve and broke to serve for the match. It still wasn’t over there – the Brit came back from 15-40 down only to get broken anyway and the twists kept coming.
