Emma Raducanu Battles Through to Second Round of Italian Open
British tennis star Emma Raducanu has secured a hard-fought win over Australian teenager Maya Joint, triumphing 7-5, 6-7 (1), 6-3 in a thrilling encounter at the Italian Open. The victory marks Raducanu’s first win in Rome in just her second appearance at the event, having been forced to retire in the first round against Bianca Andreescu in 2022.
According to The Guardian, Raducanu’s win over Joint was a significant achievement, with the 19-year-old opponent having climbed 606 ranking spots since the start of 2024 and now sitting at a career-high ranking of No 78. The match was a closely contested affair, with Raducanu leading 7-5, 5-3 before Joint mounted an impressive recovery. However, Raducanu handled her disappointment well, taking a bathroom break before the final set and producing her best stretch of attacking tennis to establish a 5-0 third-set lead.
"It was a really hard battle," Raducanu said, as quoted in The Guardian. "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."
Raducanu’s victory is a significant boost to her clay-court campaign, with the 2021 US Open champion still learning how to adapt her game to the red clay. Although she has accrued a handful of solid wins on the surface, her losses to superior clay-court players have also exposed her difficulties with her movement on the surface.
The win gives Raducanu a lot of confidence, not just because she won, but also because of the high level of play she displayed. "It gives me a lot of confidence because it’s not just clay – it’s at night, it’s heavy," she said. "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."
Raducanu will next face Ekaterina Alexandrova, the 21st seed, who she has already battled twice this year, winning once, in Australia. The British tennis star has been working with her ad-hoc coach Mark Petchey, although he was absent from her box during the match, commentating on her match instead.
In other news, Cameron Norrie took full advantage of his good fortune in Rome, producing a solid performance to move into the second round with a 6-3, 6-2 win against Christopher O’Connell of Australia. Norrie, who is ranked No 91 in the world and trying to rebuild his form and ranking after a difficult 18 months on the tour, will next face Daniil Medvedev, the 10th seed.
Katie Boulter, meanwhile, lost 6-3, 6-3 against the former French Open runner-up Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. The Italian Open continues to provide thrilling encounters, with Raducanu’s win over Joint being just one of many exciting matches to have taken place so far.
The source of this article is The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/may/07/emma-raducanu-into-second-round-of-italian-open-tennis-after-win-over-maya-joint.
