For the first time since her shock US Open triumph five years ago, Emma Raducanu will play for a trophy. The top seed at the WTA 250 Transylvania Open in Cluj-Napoca, Romania advanced to the final by ending the run of unseeded Ukrainian Oleksandra Oliynykova in a tight three-setter, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 in Friday's semifinals.
Raducanu had previously been 0-3 in tour-level semifinals since her fateful run of 10 straight match wins at Flushing Meadows in 2021, where she became the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam singles title in the Open Era. To break that streak, she outlasted the physical and mental challenge posed by world No. 91 Oliynykova in nearly three hours, and came from a break down in the final set.
Despite receiving medical attention on her shoulder later in the first set, Raducanu looked poised to ease to victory after building a 7-5, 3-1 lead against Oliynykova, who parlayed a headline-grabbing performance against 2025 champion Madison Keys at the Australian Open into a first-ever tour-level semifinal this week. But the Ukrainian wouldn't go quietly, and pocketed five straight games, and seven of eight, to take the second set and become the first player to break serve in the third.
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But Raducanu won 16 consecutive points from 2-1, 15-15 in the decider, and eventually saw off Oliynykova in two hours and 49 minutes. After failing to convert either of two match points returning in the seventh game of the final set, she served out the contest after saving a pair of break points.