Emma Raducanu breezed through her second-round match at the Italian Open despite being thrown off her game hours before taking to the court. The Brit was set to face Ekaterina Alexandrova on Friday, but the 21st seed pulled out of the tournament in the morning and was replaced by lucky loser Jil Teichmann.
It threw a spanner in the works for Raducanu, who knew what to expect against Alexandrova, given that they had already faced off twice this year. Instead, she took to the SuperTennis Arena for a first career meeting with Teichmann. And the late change in opponent didn’t seem to bother the world No. 49, who sealed a 6-2 6-2 victory.
Raducanu was all geared up to face Alexandrova for the third time after they met in Melbourne and Doha earlier this season, winning one match each. But the Russian withdrew with a shoulder injury, allowing Teichmann to enter the main draw as a lucky loser.
Currently sitting at No. 94 in the world, Teichmann has been ranked as high as No. 21 and reached the quarter-final in Rome three years ago. But she was no match for Raducanu, who only scored her first win at the tournament in the previous round.
The Brit was made to work when she faced teenage qualifier Maya Joint on Wednesday night, failing to serve out the match at the first two times of asking. But it was a completely different story when she returned to the same court in the sunshine on Friday afternoon.
From 1-2 down, the Brit reeled off five games in a row to take the first set, barely dropping points on her serve and firing down three aces.
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