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.

Emma Raducanu is back in the winners' circle for the first time since the historic 2021 triumph that started it all for the Brit and she is very much a more well rounded player compared to previous years and that showed.