Emma Raducanu piles pressure on Aryna Sabalenka after setting up Wimbledon clash

Emma Raducanu insists that none of the pressure is on her as she gears up for a daunting Wimbledon clash with top seed Aryna Sabalenka. Raducanu is yet to drop a set at this year's Championships, and on Wednesday she added to her opening win over Mimi Xu with a superb performance against Marketa Vondrousova.

Many tipped Raducanu for an early exit after landing in a tough part of the women's draw. Her first-round win over Xu was expected, but Vondrousova was a huge step up in quality, with the Czech having taken the title at the All England Club two years ago.

That fact made Raducanu's 6-3 6-3 win on Centre Court even more impressive. And she could not stop giggling during an on-court interview in which she beamed about playing 'really, really well'.

Part of the conversation was also steered towards her third-round opponent, Sabalenka - the three-time Grand Slam winner who sits at the very top of the world rankings. Raducanu insisted she can treat the match as a free hit, while nothing less than a victory is expected of the Belarusian.

"[Sabalenka] is number one in the world right now," she told the BBC. "She's so dominant on the tour, she's won literally everything so it's going to be a really difficult match. All I can do is control my side of the court as best as possible.

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"When you play an opponent like her, you know you have to play well. Yeah, I guess there is no pressure at all on me in the next round!"

Vondrousova notched an impressive win over the seeded American, McCartney Kessler, in the first round. But she was taken apart by an in-form Raducanu who had a good conversion rate on her first and second serves, and capitalised on four of her 11 break point opportunities.

Reflecting on a performance which has prompted flashbacks to her fairytale US Open win in 2021, Raducanu said: "There were some points I have no idea how I turned around. I knew playing Marketa was going to be extremely difficult and it's a huge achievement.

"I'm so happy with how I competed and I was really focused the whole way through. I knew I had to be aggressive because Marketa would beat me if I pushed the ball around. The atmosphere was electric and I'm really happy I get to play another match here."