Emma Raducanu: Brit defeats lucky loser Jil Teichmann at Italian Open in Rome with impressive display
Emma Raducanu to face world No 50 and former finalist Veronika Kudermetova in third round of Italian Open in Rome; watch all the action from the ATP and WTA Tours on Sky Sports Tennis and Sky Sports+, NOW and the Sky Sports app
Saturday 10 May 2025 09:25, UK
Emma Raducanu produced an impressive 6-2 6-2 victory over lucky loser Jil Teichmann to reach the third round of the Italian Open in Rome.
Raducanu originally was scheduled to play Ekaterina Alexandrova but the 21st seed pulled out before the match with a right shoulder injury, replaced by Switzerland's Teichmann, who lost in the last round of qualifying to Hailey Baptiste.
The former US Open champion served well, hitting six aces and facing only one break point.
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"To be honest it was pretty mental, as I was warming up for my match against Alexandrova and, all of a sudden, I get told I'm playing Jil," Raducanu told Sky Sports Tennis.
"On top of that she's a left, so a completely different challenge. Honestly, I haven't practised with a lefty and haven't played one since February.
"I'm really proud of myself for how I fought through. This is her favourite surface."
"The first few games I was adjusting to the way the ball curls, but I'm really proud of myself. I fought through and I'm really proud of how I came through that."
Raducanu turned in a thoroughly accomplished performance to cruise past the Swiss. Although ranked 94th in the world she has been as high as 21 in the past but could not match Raducanu's power and tempo in a one-sided contest that saw the 22-year-old break twice in each set and hold her own increasingly impressive serve throughout.
Raducanu defended resolutely from the baseline, hit a handful of line-hugging forehand winners and racked up six aces, including a fiery effort down the middle to seal the match in one hour and 22 minutes to set up a clash against world No 50 Veronika Kudermetova.
With her latest coach Mark Petchey watching on alongside mentor Jane Donoghue, she grew effortlessly into her work.
Discussing how she has changed her service action, Raducanu said: "If you look at my serve now compared to Australia, compared to the Middle East, even Miami, I changed it after Miami with some tweaks and it's a completely different motion. I'm trying to make it a bit more fluid, a bit longer, so it's hopefully more robust under pressure, but it's by no means a finished product.
"I feel there's so much more room to grow it. I think this way I can maximise the potential."
As for how she feels on the clay, Raducanu admitted she was slowly warming to it.
"I still don't really feel comfortable on clay but in a way it helps me because I have to be super focused on every single point, just getting my feet right and to try and not fall over, so it is a big challenge," she said.
"The points are long, the balls do get heavier, and when I was serving it out, it was getting slower and slower, so it is physical but I'm slowly finding my feet."
It was just Raducanu's third match of the season on clay - and only the 20th of her entire career.
Russian Kudermetova defeated American Amanda Anisimova, the No 15 seed, 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 to move through to a meeting with Raducanu this weekend.
Tale of the Tape
Maclagan: A really positive performance
Miles Maclagan speaking on Sky Sports Tennis:
"It really was [an impressive performance]. Without getting carried away it's a player just inside the top 100 who has already lost this week but Raducanu answered every question that was asked of her. A really positive performance.
"She was aggressive, kept her foot on the pedal throughout on a day when things could have got tricky.
"She'll take some stopping if she continues that kind of form."
Bartoli: Raducanu putting in work; not looking for technical coach
Marion Bartoli speaking on Sky Sports Tennis:
"I think she's moving better which is crucial on clay. The surface is lively and you're sliding all over the place so you need to get your legs extremely strong. You need to feel the ground really well and when I look at her muscle from the lower body she has been really putting in the work in the gym, which is probably why she decided to take a break after Miami to get those hours in the gym to make sure she was physically ready for the clay and grass too."
On her coaching set up, the former Wimbledon champion said: "Emma is probably looking for a coach who is not too technical. She will really need someone on the court with her every day if she wants to work on her technique. She's probably wanting someone to explain to her how the tactics work for that specific opponent.
"They had to reposition her around the court because she had to cover the left side of the court [against Teichmann] so when you have the experience of someone as Mark, you can bring that on the table very quickly and sometimes that takes away the stress from the player.
"I think that's what she's looking for in that dynamic. She's going to her box quite often with eye contact which means she trusts the people inside that box."
Norrie and Kartal knocked out
Cameron Norrie had no answers for 10th seed Daniil Medvedev as he was knocked out in the second round in Rome.
Norrie was handed a lucky loser lifeline after failing to make it through qualification and took his chance with a straight-sets victory over Christopher O'Connell in the opening round.
But he was unable to keep pace with the 2023 champion on Friday afternoon, succumbing 6-4 6-2. The Russian broke his British opponent four times and wrapped up a clinical victory with back-to-back aces.
He will now move on to face Australia's Alexei Popyrin in the last 32.
In the women's draw, Sonay Kartal was also ousted in the second round. Having come from behind to beat Kimberly Birrell in her previous match, she fell 6-4 6-2 at the hands of 30th seed Linda Noskova.
Kartal struggled consistently to hold serve, being broken five times across the two sets and clawing two back in response.
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