Welcome to this week's edition of "Hot Shots," a USOpen.org-curated look at what you may have missed on social media over the past few days. This week, the WTA and ATP tours are busy with two events each. The WTA action is in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and Courmayeur, Italy, at a pair of 250-level events, while the ATP's men are competing at a 500 event in Vienna, Austria, and a 250 in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Emma Raducanu made history across many statistics when she won the 2021 US Open women's singles title last month in her New York debut. One of the many incredible facts about her captivating trophy run is that she did all that winning without having an official WTA match victory to her name.
While she had previously reached the Wimbledon fourth round, Grand Slams are not governed by the tours and thus match wins do not count towards WTA or ATP tallies. And so, at the USTA Billie Jean King Tennis Center—where she won 10 matches, including qualifying—Raducanu became a Grand Slam champion before she notched her first WTA win.
This week, playing in her fourth career WTA main draw at the Transylvania Open in Romania, the 18-year-old Briton got herself on the board with her first career WTA wins. She came from a set down against Polona Hercog on Tuesday to get off the mark, then followed it up with a straight-sets win over Ana Bogdan. Seeded third, she faces No. 6 seed Marta Kostyuk in Friday's quarterfinal round.
After the win, Raducanu—whose father is from Bucharest—addressed the crowd in Romanian.
"I like Romania very much. it feels like home here," she said (translated). " It means a lot to play in my dad’s country. I have great memories here, and I am glad I have the chance to play here. Thank you very much for your support. Now I am a little bit shy to speak in Romanian, but once I stay here longer I can speak better."
Also at the Transylvania Open, Jaqueline Cristian got into the Halloween spirit with her outfit as she walked onto the court for her Round-of-16 match against Ajla Tomljanovic. In front of her home fans, the Romanian advanced, 7-6, 7-5, to set up a quarterfinal match with countrywoman Simona Halep.
Should both Halep and Raducanu win on Friday, they will face off in Saturday's semis.
On the men's side, at the Erste Open in Vienna, fan favorites Diego Schwartzman and Gael Monfils squared off on Thursday in the Round of 16. The Argentine got the win, 7-6, 4-6, 6-2, with some help from this entertaining exchange on Center Court.
Also in Vienna US Open quarterfinalist Carlos Alcaraz pulled off this hot shot against Matteo Berrettini. Though the 18-year-old Spaniard lost the point, he won the match, 6-1, 6-7, 7-6, to reach the semis.
Thank you for reading this week's edition of US Open Hot Shots.
