Emma Raducanu clears air on opponent trying to ‘throw her off’ at the Italian Open

Ewan West 12 May 2025 10:31 AM

Emma Raducanu smiling at a practice session

Emma Raducanu believes Veronika Kudermetova attempted to use a medical timeout to throw her off during the pair’s 2025 Italian Open clash.

The 22-year-old Brit defeated world No 50 Kudermetova 5-7, 6-0, 6-1 in the third round of the WTA 1000 event in Rome on Sunday.

Raducanu served for the opening set at 5-4, but she was unable to close it out and lost the next three games to fall a set behind.

The world No 49 reacted brilliantly to the disappointment as she broke Kudermetova three times to storm to a 5-0 second set lead.

When trailing 0-5, Kudermetova took a lengthy off-court medical timeout for an apparent injury.

The delay did not halt Raducanu’s momentum, though, as the former US Open champion won six of the next seven games to seal a decisive comeback victory.

In her post-match interview with Sky Sports, Raducanu admitted she thought her 28-year-old Russian opponent’s medical timeout was an act of gamesmanship.

“It was difficult, luckily I was 5-0 up when she took the timeout,” Raducanu said.

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“I kind of knew it was to throw me off but I kept my cool. Luckily I had a good cushion and served it out.

“From the third set I was really on it. It’s hard after serving for the first set, it doesn’t just slip your mind, you do refer back to it even if you’re going into the third set. I’m really happy with how I refocused.”

Raducanu added: “I don’t know, was that candid (laughing)?”

The former world No 10 also revealed the most pleasing aspect of her win.

“The most pleasing part of today was recovering after losing the first set having served for it,” she explained.

“I think I threw in a pretty poor game at 5-4 serving but I felt under pressure on Veronika’s returns – she was literally red-lining everything and it was all going in. I didn’t know where to serve and it’s not a nice feeling to have.

“I’m so happy with the way I didn’t let the rest of the match get away. With me, that’s big progress because of some of the matches I played in the past.

Raducanu’s win saw her progress to the fourth round of a WTA 1000 event for the third time — and for the first time on clay.