Emma Raducanu continued her impressive run at the 2025 Italian Open with a comeback win against Veronika Kudermetova in the third round.
The 2021 US Open champion claimed a 5-7, 6-0, 6-1 victory over 50th-ranked Kudermetova after two hours and 32 minutes on the Super Tennis Arena in Rome.
Raducanu lost a strongly contested opening set after she was unable to serve it out at 5-4.
The world No 49 responded by steamrolling her 28-year-old Russian opponent in both the second and third sets to seal a resounding win.
Former British No 1 Annabel Croft assessed that Raducanu had “psychologically dismantled” Kudermetova while commentating on Sky Sports.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Raducanu said: “The most pleasing part of today was recovering after losing the first set having served for it.
“I think I threw in a pretty poor game at 5-4 serving but I felt under pressure on Veronika’s returns – she was literally red-lining everything and it was all going in. I didn’t know where to serve and it’s not a nice feeling to have.
“I’m so happy with the way I didn’t let the rest of the match get away. With me, that’s big progress because of some of the matches I played in the past.
Emma Raducanu News
Emma Raducanu has rediscovered a key part of her personality that made her special
Emma Raducanu’s ‘crucial’ improvement on clay revealed by former Wimbledon winner
“I’m happy with the variety that I have with my shots. I was able to return from two different positions up and back, which is new, and I think I adopted the back in the last two matches and it’s helped me just get into the point and put me into a better position on the fourth ball, but I still think I can be better out of the corners.”
The Brit is making just her second Italian Open appearance after losing her only previous match at the event in 2022.
Raducanu has climbed seven places to world No 42 in the Live WTA Rankings with the 120 points she has gained from her three victories in the Italian capital. She reached a career-high ranking of world No 10 in July 2022.
The 22-year-old has set up an intriguing last 16 showdown with world No 3 Coco Gauff at the WTA 1000 event.
Gauff won the pair’s only previous meeting in the second round of the 2023 Australian Open. The 21-year-old American downed 32nd seed Magda Linette 7-5, 6-3 in her third round match in Rome.
READ NEXT: Emma Raducanu wins humorous WTA award – ‘Oops!… she did it again!’
The post Emma Raducanu clinches rankings breakthrough at Italian Open as she sets up Coco Gauff showdown appeared first on Tennis365.
Leave a Reply