British number one Emma Raducanu eased into the last 16 of the Stuttgart Open with a straight sets victory over Australian qualifier Storm Sanders on Wednesday.
Despite posting a couple of early double faults, Raducanu recovered and was on the front foot throughout the contest against Sanders, ultimately claiming a 6-1 6-2 victory on the clay court.
The 19-year-old strung together a seven-game winning streak after making her clay debut in Billie Jean King Cup qualifying last week and sunk Sanders with the quality of her first serves - registering 87% of them on the day.
"I feel like there were many long deuce games so I'm very happy to have battled through against Storm," Raducanu said during her on-court interview. "I'm just really happy to have found a way to come through those long games and put on a good performance.
"The duration of the points is definitely something I need to work on as I spend more time on clay and it will improve my craftiness and variety of shots. I'm just looking forward to spending more time on this surface."
Raducanu failed to take three opportunities to break the Sanders serve in the first game of the second set but made it fourth time lucky as the Australian netted on a backhand, and she clinched the contest on serve after Sanders hit a long return.
The US Open champion will now meet German lucky loser Tamara Korpatsch in the last-16, with the winner of that tie going on to meet world number one Iga Swiatek in the quarter-finals.
Ben Knapton
