Emma Raducanu won a fierce match against Australia’s Maya Joint with a final scoreline of 7-5, 6-7 (1), 6-3 to reach the second round of the Italian Open.
Instagram.com/Emma Raducanu
Photo: Instagram.com/Emma Raducanu
'It was really a hard battle': Emma Raducanu advances to the second round of Italian Open after challenging match
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.
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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.”