‘It was really a hard battle’: Emma Raducanu advances to the second round of Italian Open after challenging match

This is Raducanu’s first victory in Rome after trying for the second time, for she had to retire last year in the first round. With this win, she will now battle against Ekaterina Alexandrova, the 21st seed; she played against the athlete twice this year, winning once in Australia. 

Raducanu admitted: “It was a really hard battle… Maya played an amazing match and such a high level, and I think I did as well. I think that the overall level of the match was really high, and she’s flown up the rankings. I mean, playing like this, I think she’s gonna go up really fast, really quick. I’m really proud of myself as well, because that was a great performance, I think, on all fronts.” 

The young athlete has only played one full clay season in her sporting career so far, and she is still in the process of adjusting to the clay court. 

Raducanu added: “It gives me a lot of confidence because it’s not just clay—it’s at night, it’s heavy… I think with the new balls, it was still flying, but the balls got old pretty quickly and it was very cold. So I’m really proud. I take a lot of confidence from this win, not just because I won, but I think the level in general was really high, and I think I was committing to my shots, which is what I said I wanted to do, and I was really going for it.”

Highlights of the match

Raducanu, the 2021 US Open champion, was in control of the match at 7-5, 5-3 before Australia’s Joint made an impressive comeback. Raducanu remained composed and took a break before the deciding set. When she returned, she gave it her all and closed the match with victory. 

This match displayed difficulties in Raducanu’s current setup with Mark Petchey as her temporary coach despite her positive outlook on their collaboration. Petchey was not present in her player box during the match as he was on broadcast duty, but Raducanu received courtside support from Jane O’Donoghue. 

After the game, Raducanu joked about the setup and said: “Petch, I think was on comms of my match, so I hope he was nice to me.”