Britain’s Emma Raducanu in action during her quarter final match against Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk (REUTERS)
Ukrainian sixth seed Marta Kostyuk swept aside U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu for an emphatic 6-2 6-1 win to march into the last four of the Transylvania Open on Friday.
Raducanu, who won her first two matches on the WTA tour to reach the quarter-finals, made 41 unforced errors as Kostyuk dictated play from the back of the court and easily overpowered the 18-year-old Briton.
Raducanu lost her opening service game and never recovered from the early setback, squandering her only break-point opportunity in the sixth game of the first set.
Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk celebrates after winning her quarter final match against Britain’s Emma Raducanu. )REUTERS)
The second set started much like the first, with Raducanu again surrendering serve and the 19-year-old Kostyuk taking full advantage of her opponent’s erratic groundstrokes.
Raducanu showed glimpses of a fightback towards the end as she saved three match points on her own serve but eventually sent a backhand wide to fall to a crushing defeat in just under an hour.
Kostyuk will take on local favourite and former world number one Simona Halep. The other semi-final will be contested between Sweden’s Rebecca Peterson and Estonian Anett Kontaveit.