Emma Raducanu carries BJK Cup momentum—and Team GB's lucky bracelet—into Stuttgart quarterfinals

Last weekend’s Billie Jean King Cup hero Emma Raducanu has carried her winning momentum—as well as a lucky memento of the trip—into the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix en route to her first WTA quarterfinal since 2022.

Raducanu was rock solid during Great Britain’s away tie in France, with the former US Open champion rallying from a set down against Caroline Garcia and Diane Parry to lift her nation to the Finals. The team clinched the tie 3-1, aided by another upset from Katie Boulter over Clara Burel to help pull GB ahead.

While the team’s gritty determination was rewarded with a trip to Seville, Spain at the end of the season, their great vibes were immortalized in the form of friendship bracelets for the whole team. Harriet Dart shared a snap to her Instagram of the bracelets, which featured each team member’s nickname: “Hazza” for Dart, “Hev” for Heather Watson, “Radders” for Raducanu, “Fran” for Francesca Jones, “Boults” for Boulter and “Annie K” for team captain Anne Keothevong.

The 21-year-old went straight to Stuttgart with a wildcard for the WTA’s first 500-level red clay event in Europe, where she kept the good vibes and big wins coming. With her own Team GB bracelet firmly on her wrist, Raducanu dropped just three games in her first round against fellow Grand Slam champion Angelique Kerber, seeing off the German 6-2, 6-1.

She stayed in fine form on Thursday with a 6-0, 7-5 victory over Linda Noskova, who had only dropped four games in her first-round win against Jelena Ostapenko. Raducanu dominated the return games, shutting out Noskova for seven games in a row before the Czech got on the scoreboard in the second set. But she was not able to make much of an impact, with Raducanu not facing any break points on her way to a 6-0, 7-5 win in just under an hour and a half.

With the victory, Raducanu has now won four matches in a row and moved into her first WTA quarterfinal since her trip to the 2022 Seoul semifinals.

\\ WATCH: Emma Raducanu books Iga Swiatek clash, routs Linda Noskova in Stuttgart second round | MATCH POINT**

“I must say I’m not too surprised, because I’ve been working really hard on the training court and I knew it was a matter of time,” Raducanu told Andrea Petkovic during their on-court interview. “Honestly, I don’t think this is my best. I think I still have a long way to go.

“I’m just really happy that the rewards are starting to come on the match court. Because you know how it is, when you’re training day in and day out and the results aren’t exactly going your way. But it’s never that far away, I guess.

“That’s something that I’ve been learning. Just doing the right things every single day, and then things happen and you don’t know how or why.”

World No. 1 Iga Swiatek awaits in the quarterfinals, with Raducanu trailing 0-2 in their head-to-head record. The British player has not won a set against Swiatek, including a 6-4, 6-4 defeat when they met in Stuttgart back in 2022.