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Emma Raducanu recently gave the media a few inside details behind her decision to team up with fellow WTA pro Elena Rybakina at this week's Citi DC Open. The Brit has claimed that while the prospect of playing doubles before her singles campaign at the 500-level event began was promising, she wouldn't have been too bummed by a possible rejection from the former World No. 3.
Raducanu has enjoyed a good season on the WTA Tour this year, compiling a 20-14 win/loss record and making her return to the women's top 50 for the first time since 2022. The 22-year-old is currently competing at the Citi DC Open in Washington and has made it to the quarterfinals.
Emma Raducanu also got off her doubles campaign at the hardcourt tournament with World No. 12 Elena Rybakina to a great start. In their first time partnering up in doubles this week, the duo reached the last four against all odds. Speaking to the local press in Washington, the World No. 46 revealed that unbeknownst to the tennis world, she and the former Wimbledon champion had previously planned to join forces for the 2022 Cincinnati Open, but they eventually passed on the opportunity.
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"How it came about, so in 2022 in Cincinnati, me and Elena were going to play doubles together, and that fell through," Emma Raducanu said. "Then here, when I was in D.C., I thought it would be a good idea to play doubles, get some extra matches in these conditions. It's very different."
The 2021 US Open champion added that their current partnership was very impromptu.
"And also the fact we were able to play before singles, I think that really helped. So, yeah, she was walking off the practice court, and I was on the practice court, and I was just, like, 'Okay, I'll give it a shot,'" she said. "I wasn't really bothered if she said no. I asked her, and she was, like, 'Yeah, sure. That's how it came about.'"
Emma Raducanu and Elena Rybakina will next face the second-seeded team of Taylor Townsend and Shuai Zhang.
Taking a look at Emma Raducanu and Elena Rybakina's doubles campaign at Citi DC Open 2025
Emma Raducanu and Elena Rybakina began their run in women's doubles at the 2025 Citi DC Open in hard-fought fashion. The Brit and the Kazakh came from a set down to defeat fourth seeds Olivia Nicholls and Tereza Mihalikova 2-6, 7-6(4), [11-9] in the first round.
Raducanu and Rybakina then enjoyed smooth sailing into the semifinals of the WTA 500 tournament, beating the unseeded pair of Giuliana Olmos and Aldila Sutjiadi 7-6(6), 6-4. The former World No. 10 is also vying for her first singles semifinal result of the year in Washington and leads Maria Sakkari by a set in the last eight.
