The unseeded Brit has shown impressive form so far, comfortably dispatching Mimi Xu and Marketa Vondrousova with identical 6–3, 6–3 scorelines.
This year’s tournament has already seen its fair share of upsets, with four of the top five seeds eliminated before the third round.
Raducanu is making her fourth appearance in the Wimbledon main draw. Her best runs came in 2021 and 2024, when she reached the fourth round.
The former US Open champion has reached two WTA quarter-finals this season and has climbed back into the world’s top 40.
Following a disappointing loss to Australian teenager Maya Joint in Eastbourne, Raducanu admitted she needed to refocus ahead of Wimbledon, citing ongoing back spasms and private personal matters she declined to elaborate on.
Raducanu celebrates beating Mimi Xu in the first round
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Emma Raducanu secured a comfortable victory over compatriot Mimi Xu on No1 Court to advance to the second round.
The 21-year-old wrapped up a 6–3, 6–3 win against 17-year-old Xu, who sits just outside the world’s top 300 and was making her Grand Slam debut.
It was an ideal start for Raducanu as she eased into the tournament.
Raducanu beat a previous winner in Vondrousova
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Round two: Marketa Vondrousova
Emma Raducanu outclassed 2023 champion Marketa Vondrousova on Wednesday, advancing to the last 32 for the third time in four Wimbledon appearances.
Raducanu dominated the Czech player and, in doing so, improved her Wimbledon women’s singles record to 9–3, an impressive 75% win rate.
Vondrousova, the first unseeded woman to win the Wimbledon singles title, has previously been ranked as high as No6 in the world. She entered this year’s tournament in strong form, having claimed the grass-court title in Berlin in the lead-up.
World No1 Sabalenka presents the most formidable challenge
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Round three: Aryna Sabalenka
Raducanu faces her toughest test of the tournament in the third round, where she’s set to meet top seed Aryna Sabalenka.
Sabalenka, a three-times Grand Slam champion, won their only previous encounter at Indian Wells last year, defeating Raducanu 6-3, 7-5 in the round of 16 at the BNP Paribas Open.
The world No1 has been in dominant form throughout the 2025 season, boasting a 44–8 record (85 per cent win rate) on the WTA Tour. Her performance against top-10 opponents has been equally impressive, with an 8–2 record (80 per cent).
Facing a three-time title winner in 2025, Raducanu will have her work cut out.
Svitolina is twice a Wimbledon semi-finalist (2019, 2023)
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Should Raducanu defy the odds and defeat Sabalenka, she could face Ukraine’s top player, Elina Svitolina, in the next round.
A two-time Wimbledon semi-finalist (2019 and 2023), Svitolina has started this year’s tournament in commanding fashion. She breezed past Anna Bondar 6–3, 6–1 in the first round and needed just over an hour to dispatch Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6–2, 6–4 in the second.
Raducanu and Svitolina have met only once before, this year at the ASB Classic in Auckland. On that occasion, Svitolina came from behind to win a hard-fought three-set battle, 6–7, 7–6, 6–1.
Svitolina has been in strong form throughout 2025, winning 30 of her 40 matches (75 per cent win rate) and reaching the quarter-finals at both the Australian Open and Roland Garros.
Raducanu has never played Madison Keys as a professional
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Quarter-finals: Madison Keys
Raducanu will have to navigate a tough path — if she overcomes the challenge of Svitolina, she could face the tournament’s second-highest remaining seed.
Madison Keys would present an unfamiliar opponent for the Brit, with the pair yet to meet in a professional match.
The 30-year-old American boasts ten career titles and recently claimed her first Grand Slam at the Australian Open this year.
Her best Wimbledon performances came in 2015 and 2023, when she reached the quarter-finals.
Keys advanced to the third round after a hard-fought three-set victory over Elena-Gabriela Ruse in the first round 6–7, 7–5, 7–5, followed by a more straightforward win against Olga Danilović in round two, 6–4, 6–2.
Raducanu has beaten Amanda Anisimova twice this year
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Semi-finals: Amanda Anisimova
If the home favourite can overcome the Australian Open champion, Raducanu is likely to face a familiar opponent in Anisimova.
Raducanu has beaten the American twice this year, first with a 6–3, 7–5 victory in the second round of the Australian Open, and then more comfortably in the fourth round of the Miami Open in March.
The 23-year-old Anisimova will no doubt be carrying plenty of confidence, ranked world No13 — the highest of her career— and in strong form.
The American cruised through her first-round match against Yulia Putintseva without dropping a set, winning 6–0, 6–0, before defeating Renata Zarazúa 6–4, 6–3 in straight sets in round two.
Raducanu has not beaten Swiatek in five encounters
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To claim a historic title, Raducanu will have to beat Iga Swiatek for the first time.
The pair have met five times before, with the Polish superstar winning every encounter in straight sets, ten sets to none.
Their most recent meeting came in May at the French Open second round, where Swiatek conceded just three games, cruising to a 6–1, 6–2 victory.
Before that, Swiatek was even more dominant at the 2025 Australian Open, dropping only one game as she dismantled Raducanu 6–1, 6–0.
They have never faced each other on grass professionally, which could offer Raducanu some hope.
Swiatek, the eighth seed at Wimbledon, has never advanced beyond the quarter-finals, as she tends to favour clay courts.
Though seeded eighth, Swiatek is ranked world No4 (Wimbledon’s seedings are based on the WTA rankings from the week of June 23, when she was No8). By the tournament’s start on June 30, her ranking had risen to No4.
This will undoubtedly be a monumental challenge for Raducanu, but if she succeeds, it will be a story for the ages.
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