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Emma Raducanu continued her clay-court education in the notoriously slow, heavy nighttime conditions at the Italian Open as she held off a spirited comeback from the Australian 19-year-old Maya Joint and quelled her own nerves to reach the second round with a gritty 7-5, 6-7 (1), 6-3 win.
The victory is Raducanu’s first in Rome in her second appearance at the event. In 2022, the only other time she had competed in this tournament, Raducanu was forced to retire in the first round against Bianca Andreescu. She will next tackle a familiar face in Ekaterina Alexandrova, the 21st seed, an opponent she has already battled twice this year.
Before the tournament, Raducanu had expressed her intention to play more offensive tennis on clay rather than falling into a passive mindset. Even though the playing conditions were further slowed in the cool evening air, she stepped on to the court determined to dictate terms from inside the baseline. Despite trailing by a break early in the opening set, Raducanu found her best level in the decisive moments.
With the first set secured, Raducanu relaxed and produced her best stretch of tennis of the match to establish a 5-3 lead. A game away from victory, however, she played a tentative service game at 5-4 and was punished by her teenage opponent, who played her most impressive attacking tennis in the final stages of the set, particularly lasering her backhand down-the-line without hesitation. Although Raducanu held on for a tie-break, she could not halt the momentum as Joint rolled through to force a final set.
Raducanu opted to take a bathroom break before the final set and she returned to the court energised, reestablishing her court position inside the baseline and shutting the youngster out as she dominated the final set to seal an essential win.
Naomi Osaka continued her attempts to build confidence and momentum on clay as she defeated Sara Errani 6-2, 6-3 to reach the second round in Rome. Osaka has now won six consecutive matches on clay, her longest winning streak at any level on the surface, after winning the St Malo WTA 125 title last week.
Osaka’s presence in St Malo marked her first appearance at any lower-level tournament in nearly 10 years, when she was rising up the rankings for the first time as a teenager.
“I just wanted to focus on the tennis,” Osaka said. “I wanted to rack up experience on clay. I didn’t really have too much of an ego playing that tournament. I’ve always told people that I’m OK, like, playing on Court 16 if I have to anyways. The reason I came back wasn’t to play on centre courts all the time, it’s because I really enjoy the game. I just want to see what I can do.”
After previously opting against competing on the WTA 125 circuit, the WTA’s equivalent of the ATP Challenger circuit, Osaka made the decision to compete there after an opening round loss at the Madrid Open. Osaka departed the tournament frustrated and she spent days after her loss in Madrid unable to escape her own thoughts.
“I hate inconveniencing people,” said Osaka of her tendency to overthink when things aren’t going well. “I don’t really like to talk to people if I have problems. I’d rather just solve it by myself. In that aspect, obviously with Patrick [Mouratoglou, her coach] we talk, but sometimes I don’t tell him exactly what I’m thinking.”
“After Madrid, going into St Malo, we had a conversation about me telling him exactly how I feel before going into matches. Even today I told him that I was nervous obviously because I want to do well here coming off the win that I just had. So that definitely helped a lot. I think overall just being grateful for life, for I guess being healthy, has helped me out a lot. I think as a tennis player, as a tennis person, I care so much about winning that I don’t see the full picture sometimes.”
Elsewhere, Cameron Norrie took full advantage of his good fortune in Rome as he produced 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, had fallen in the final round of the qualifying draw to Dusan Lajovic of Serbia in three sets. He eventually received a second chance, replacing an injured player in the main draw as a lucky loser.
There was no such luck for Katie Boulter, the British No 2, whose struggles on her worst surface continued as she was defeated 6-3, 6-3 by the former French Open runner-up Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
