By a cold evening within the reach of the Italico Foro, Emma Raducanu has coughing and made his way in the second round of the Italian Open.
The 22-year-old man seemed to breastfeed a cold, but between strokes and sneezing, she produced a powerful attacking tennis to beat the Australian qualifier Maya joined 7-5, 6-7, 6-3.
What battle these first two sets were. Raducanu was the dominant force but could not put his 19 -year -old opponent. When she failed to serve the match, then crossed the equality break in the second set, he had the impression that Raducanu could crash.
Completely the opposite. After leaving the court – perhaps looking for lemsip – she reappeared for the decisive whole and produced her best fate of the match, each winner punctuated by a “ ie ” cried in the cold air of the night. An advance of 5-0 became 5-3, but finally the match was won, in two hours and 44 minutes.
There were only a few score fans in this most special stage, which appeared this year at the heart of a vast and spectacular amphitheater. The problem is that it is a quick leak 20 minutes walk from the central short, so very little have come here, especially since the match started at 8 p.m. local time.
Before the tournament, Raducanu spoke of the mixture of frustration and pleasure as it tries to master the tricks of the clay fight. She also said that her inexperience on the surface could give her the freedom to play a more offensive style.
Emma Raducanu may not have felt the best but fought to win in three sets
The old British No1 spoke of his frustration with his clay game but played more freely in his first Roman outing
The Australian qualifier Maya joint brought the fight to the high -ranking player but was cold in the third set
“I know the difference between the place where I am now, 50 in the world and the top of the game – these players are very aggressive. I think this time on clay will actually eliminate the pressure, in one way: I want to work to try to impose my game, take the ball a little more.
Raducanu corresponded to the word with the action against the joint, swinging and taking the total agency of the match. The first set should really have been more comfortable, but after playing a stinking of a match to go 4-2, Raducanu did well to recover.
The second set was closely fought until Joint takes an advance of 5-0 unassailable in the equality break.
Raducanu took a break from the toilet and given the temperature joint should really have done the same. Instead, she just stayed on the ground and did not even put a jacket – was it surprising that she came out cold?
“Maya played so aggressive,” said Raducanu later. “Whenever I dropped the ball slightly short, it was everywhere. I found it so difficult. This morning there was rain and a wait and a delay. In fact, I went to the Trevi fountain but I did not make a wish.
“It is difficult to get excited in the locker room when you were on a day off until 6 pm.
“Yeah, I feel like I had this cold last week,” she added. “ It’s hard, you can’t really breathe in your nose and you try to play and make these long gatherings, it freezes there, so I suppose that I just try to take care of myself as quickly as possible.
Then for Raducanu is a third meeting of the year with Ekaterina Alexandrova Russian. Raducanu beat her at the Australian Open and lost in Doha.
Earlier in the day, Katie Boulter’s defeat left her British n ° 1 status in danger. With Sonay Kartal and now Raducanu already in the second round, a good race of one or the other woman here or at the Open of France could take first place.
The 6-3, 6-3 defeat of Boulter in the hands of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was his third defeat in five games on Clay this season, while her struggles to master the dirt continue.
Cam Norrie became the first British man to win this fortnight here, defeating Aussia Chris O’Connell 6-3, 6-2. The former world No8 slipped the draw as a lucky loser after his defeat during the qualification final.
