Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper coast into Italian Open third round
Raducanu made quick work of her opponent while Cameron Norrie had no answers for 10th seed Daniil Medvedev
Emma Raducanu breezed into the third round of the Italian Open with a ruthless 6-2 6-2 victory over surprise opponent Jil Teichmann.
Raducanu had been preparing to face 21st seed Ekaterina Alexandrova but was handed a new challenge when the Russian withdrew with a shoulder injury.
Teichmann was pulled off the reserve list, meaning the 22-year-old Briton was forced to readjust face a left-hander with minimal preparation.
She need not have worried, though, turning 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 former US Open champion 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.
With her latest coach Mark Petchey watching on alongside mentor Jane Donoghue, she grew effortlessly into her work and a potential last-32 meeting with 15th seed Amanda Anisimova.
“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,” she told Sky Sports.
“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.”
Turning to her beefed up serve, she added: “There’s been some tweaks. It’s a completely different motion, I’m trying to make it a bit longer and hopefully more robust under pressure. By no means is it the finished product, I feel there’s so much room to grow it.”
As for how she feels on the clay, Raducanu admitted she was slowly warming to it.
“It is physical but I’m slowly finding my feet. I still don’t really feel comfortable but, in a way, I guess that helps me,” she reasoned.
“I have to be super focused on every single point to get my feet right, not fall over. It’s a big challenge.”
British number one Jack Draper also made light work of his second-round opponent as he silenced the partisan Italian crowd to dispatch Luciano Darderi.
The fifth seed sunk the home favourite 6-1 6-2 to bounce back from Madrid Open final disappointment last weekend.
“I think I came out really well,” said Draper. “I think mentally I knew it was going to be a little bit difficult and I’m glad about how I played in certain moments. I think I needed a match here to feel like I was strong again and I just think it was a really good mental performance today.”
Cameron Norrie had no answers for 10th seed Daniil Medvedev as he was knocked out in the second round.
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 Kimberley 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, broken five times across the two sets and clawing two back in response.