Four years ago, Emma Raducanu shocked the tennis world when she won the U.S. Open as an 18-year-old qualifier. But nearly as staggering had been Raducanu’s lack of success at Flushing Meadows since then.

Emma Raducanu’s smile is back. The young Brit broke her three-year U.S. Open drought, winning her first match in Flushing Meadows since the breakthrough 2021 title that changed her life. Radacanu rolled past qualifier Ena Shibahara 6-1, 6-2 at Louis Armstrong Stadium with a 26-minute first set and a brisk one-hour domination.