Emma Raducanu ends three-year clay drought at Madrid Open as encouraging stats emerge
Emma Raducanu kicked off her clay-court season in impressive fashion as she defeated Suzan Lamens in the opening round of the 2025 Madrid Open.
The 2021 US Open winner prevailed 7-6(4), 6-4 against her 25-year-old Dutch opponent in just under two hours.
Raducanu fought back from a break down in each set to survive a stern test from Lamens, who is ranked 73rd in the world.
It was Raducanu’s first match since her excellent run at the Miami Open ended with a quarter-final defeat to Jessica Pegula just under a month ago.
Prior to Madrid, Raducanu chose to delay the start of her clay campaign as she withdrew from Great Britain’s Billie Jean King Cup qualifying ties in the Netherlands and the WTA 250 tournament in Rouen.
The Brit’s victory against Lamens was her first win on an outdoor clay-court in almost three years, with her previous one coming at the 2022 French Open.
Raducanu has not played the French Open or Italian Open since 2022, with her only outdoor clay appearance in the previous two seasons coming at the 2024 Madrid Open — where she exited in the first round.
“I know I had to play really well to win and although it wasn’t always my best, I got stuck in at the right moments,” Raducanu said in a post-match interview.
“I’m proud of how I competed. It is a strength of mine when I can use it.”
With the 35 points earned from her opening round win at the WTA 1000 tournament, Raducanu has climbed two places from 49th to 47th in the Live WTA Rankings.
This boosts Raducanu’s points tally by 25 points up to 1,139 as she was defending 10 points from her first round loss in Madrid last year.
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The former world No 10 has a good opportunity to climb the rankings further in the coming weeks as she has no other points to defend during the clay season.
Encouraging serving stats
Raducanu’s serve caused her problems during her difficult early season run prior to Miami, but there were positives to take in this area from her Madrid opener.
The 22-year-old landed 61% of her first serves and hit four aces against Lamens.
While her 56% of first serve points won was on the low side, Raducanu won an excellent 66% of points behind her second delivery and hit only one double fault.
Who will Raducanu face next?
Raducanu will play 24th seed Marta Kostyuk in the second round in Madrid.
The Brit holds a 1-1 record against the 22-year-old Ukrainian, who she dismantled 6-2, 6-1 at the 2022 Madrid Open in the pair’s previous meeting.
