Emma Raducanu and Elena-Gabriela Ruse to play exhibition match at the iconic Royal Albert Hall

British no. 1 Emma Raducanu will take on Romania's Elena-Gabriela Ruse in an exhibition match at the Champions Tennis event, scheduled to be held at the Royal Albert Hall in London later this month.

The match will mark Raducanu's first appearance in front of home fans since her breakthrough run at the 2021 Wimbledon Championships. The youngster has since gone on to lift her maiden Grand Slam trophy at the US Open and taken over the no. 1 British ranking.

Raducanu's participation in the Champions Tennis event, which will be played between November 25--28, was announced back in September, but her opponent was not revealed at the time.

Now, days ahead of the exhibition event, reports in the British media have confirmed that the 24 year old Ruse, who lifted her first career title at the 2021 Hamburg European Open, will be taking on Raducanu in Sunday's session.

The news was confirmed by Ruse's PR manager Andrei Nourescu, who took to social media to announce the schedule.

"The final details with Emma's team and with the organizers from IMG are now settled and we can confirm the big event," Nourescu wrote in an Instagram post. "Emma Raducanu and Gabriela Ruse will play an exhibition match on November 28 in London".

The event has seen participation from several tennis legends in the past, including the likes of John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, Bjorn Borg, Pat Rafter, and Andy Roddick.

"We started to be friends, she’s a nice person" - Elena Ruse on striking a frienship with Emma Raducanu at the Transylvania Open

Raducanu was spotted practicing with Ruse at last month's Transylvania Open.

Emma Raducanu was in Romania in September for the inaugural edition of the Transylvania Open, a WTA 250 tournament in Cluj-Napoca.

The youngster, whose father is Romanian, drew massive fan interest during her time at the tournament. One of Raducanu's practice sessions with Elena Gabriela Ruse -- her opponent at the Champion's Tennis event -- drew especially large crowds.

Raducanu was also spotted interacting with Ruse before the practice sessions. The Romanian had at the time described the US Open champion as a "nice person" and mentioned that the two had struck up a friendship in their short time together at the tournament.

“We started to be friends, she’s a nice person,” Ruse had said at the sidelines of the Transylvnia Open. “I enjoy the time with her so much. She is speaking really good Romanian but she’s so shy to do it.”

The two women have enjoyed success in the 2021 season, but fans will be firmly backing Raducanu at the iconic venue in London. The two women have never crossed paths on the tour before.