Rome roundup: Raducanu battles to victory, Kostyuk ousts Eala
Showers in the afternoon led to a fascinating and star-studded Wednesday evening at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, as the first round of this year's latest WTA 1000 event came to a conclusion.
In the night session at the Foro Italico, Emma Raducanu needed to battle to get past teenage qualifier Maya Joint, while two other teens, Alexandra Eala and Tyra Caterina Grant, fell at the first hurdle.
Rome: Draws | Scores | Order of play
Here's a breakdown of three eye-opening encounters in Rome:
Emma Raducanu def. [Q] Maya Joint 7-5, 6-7(1), 6-3
The 2021 US Open champion Raducanu got close to a straight-sets victory, albeit a tough one, but Aussie 19-year-old Joint had other ideas.
Raducanu served for the match at 7-5, 5-4, but Joint did not buckle, breaking the Brit to get back on level footing at 5-5. The momentum swung firmly in Joint's favor as she dominated the second-set tiebreak to tie up the match at one set all.
However, Raducanu came out firing in the third set and powered to a commanding 5-0 lead. Joint refused to yield so easily and won three games in a row, but Raducanu served out the match at the second time of asking to notch a tough 2-hour and 44-minute win.
This is Raducanu's first career win at Rome. In her only other appearance at the event, she had to retire in her opening match against Bianca Andreescu in 2022.
Raducanu will next face No. 21 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in the second round. They have already met twice this year, with Raducanu winning at the Australian Open and Alexandrova prevailing at WTA 1000 Doha.
Marta Kostyuk def. Alexandra Eala 6-0, 6-1
The 19-year-old Eala has been one of this year's breakthrough players, including a run to the WTA 1000 Miami semifinals, but Ukraine's Kostyuk needed only 62 minutes to defeat the Filipina teen.
Kostyuk never faced a break point in the match, converted six of her 17 break points, and fired 19 winners to Eala's three.
Kostyuk has gone 4-1 at this year's WTA 1000 clay-court events so far this year, reaching last week's Madrid quarterfinals before a narrow loss in two tiebreak sets to World No. 1 and eventual champion Aryna Sabalenka.
Kostyuk will meet No. 14 seed Daria Kasatkina of Australia in the second round. Kasatkina leads their head-to-head 4-2 overall.
[Q] Antonia Ruzic def. [WC] Tyra Caterina Grant 3-6, 6-3, 7-5
In her home city of Rome, 17-year-old Grant nearly got her first WTA Tour-level main-draw win, holding a pair of match points at 5-4 in the third set.
But Croatian qualifier Ruzic held her nerve, fending off those match points en route to victory. The 22-year-old came back from the brink of defeat to reel off the final four games and outlast the Italian teen.
This was Ruzic's second WTA Tour-level main-draw win of the year. Her first came over Mayar Sherif on the indoor hard courts of Linz.
Ruzic will go for a third main-draw win when she takes on 2021 US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez, the No. 24 seed from Canada. This will be their first meeting. In fact, this will be Ruzic's first career meeting versus a Top 50 player.
