Emma Raducanu was delighted with herself after getting through a difficult day to seal her first-ever win at the Italian Open. The world No. 49 was broken when serving for the match twice. She finally got the job done at the third time of asking, beating teenage qualifier Maya Joint 7-5 6-7(1) 6-3.
But it was a tough build-up overall for Raducanu, who was given the last slot of the day on the new SuperTennis Arena and had her match further pushed back by rain delays. After a long wait, the Brit was proud of her ability to regroup after feeling like she had a “day off”.
The British No. 2 had a lot of hurdles to overcome as she made her return to the Italian Open after a three-year absence. Raducanu finally took to the court around 8pm local time and didn’t finish her match until close to 11pm.
The former US Open champion looked to be cruising to victory when she led by a set and a break, and she was two points from victory in the second set. But Aussie world No. 78 Joint broke back to force a decider.
The teenager led Raducanu into a false sense of security again – she raced into a 5-0 lead but Joint kept her guessing and broke when the Brit served for it a second time. Finally, Raducanu got the job done after two hours and 44 minutes, and she was thrilled.
“Honestly, I think the level was really high today. I think Maya played so aggressive and anytime I dropped the ball a tiny bit short, she was just all over it,” the 22-year-old told Sky Sports.
“I’m really proud of how I came through, but the level, it was really difficult to play and to close out the match was extremely hard!
“But the crowd and the support was amazing given it’s almost 11 o’clock at night and I really felt it and tried to shimmy along past the finish line.”
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