The athlete from Great Britain displayed fortitude at the beginning, successfully defending against five opportunities for her opponent to gain an advantage in the initial game where she served.
Subsequently, she concluded the first set impressively, securing victories in five games consecutively.
Following a sequence where each player broke the other’s serve a couple of times in the second set, Raducanu – who had previously triumphed over Ruse in Auckland in 2024 – achieved the decisive break to move ahead 5-4 and then served to win the match.
Following her defeat to Aryna Sabalenka at Wimbledon earlier in July, Raducanu has demonstrated a strong recovery, achieving four wins in her five most recent matches played on hard court surfaces.
Should she overcome Stearns in Montreal, Amanda Anisimova, the fifth-seeded American and a finalist at the 2025 Wimbledon tournament, might be her next opponent in the third stage.
