<
>

Italian Open: Emma Raducanu excites on clay, beats Veronika Kudermetova

Emma Raducanu continued her run at the Italian Open with a 5-7, 6-0, 6-1 victory over Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday.

The Brit booked her place in the round of 16 in Rome by coming back from a set down. Kudermetova ground her way to secure the opening set, but Raducanu came back with vengence winning 12 of the next 13 games.

Raducanu clinched first win on outdoor clay in almost three years at the Madrid Open earliest this month, with her run at the Italian Open the deepest she has ever managed.

It adds more signs of encouragement on clay ahead of the French Open last this month.

She will face Coco Gauff, who also won on Sunday, in the next round.

"The most pleasing part of today was recovering after losing the first set having served for it," Raducanu told Sky Sports after the match.

"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."