Emma Raducanu gives verdict on tough Italian Open win as she reacts to Mark Petchey absence

Ewan West 08 May 2025 10:55 AM

Emma Raducanu smiling at a practice session

Emma Raducanu proclaimed that her battling three-set opening round victory at the 2025 Italian Open gives her “a lot of confidence.”

The world No 49 defeated 78th-ranked qualifier Maya Joint 7-5, 6-7(1), 6-3 in the opening round at the Foro Italico.

Raducanu recovered from 4-2 down to win the opening set, but she lost the second set on a tiebreak after serving for the match at 5-4.

In the deciding set, Raducanu responded strongly as she surged into a 5-0 lead, and she staved off another fightback from Joint to prevail after two hours and 44 minutes.

The 22-year-old was playing just her second match at the WTA 1000 tournament in Rome after a first round defeat in 2022. She missed the event through injury in 2023 and chose to skip it last year.

Raducanu was impressed by Joint and predicted that her 19-year-old Australian opponent will climb the rankings quickly.

“It was a really hard battle. Maya played an amazing match and such a high level. And I think I did as well,” the Brit said.

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“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.

“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.”

Jane O’Donoghue was the lone coaching presence in Raducanu’s box as Mark Petchey was preoccupied with his commentary role for American broadcaster Tennis Channel.

“Petch, I think was on comms of my match, so I hope he was nice to me (laughs),” the 2021 US Open champion said.

Raducanu will face 21st seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in the second round in Rome. She holds a 1-1 record against the 30-year-old Russian.