Make it snappy! Gauff races.to victory over Raducanu

Brit admits to being outplayed’ by US star at Italian Open

- JAMIE BRAIDWOOD

Emma Raducanu was taught a lesson on clay as Coco Gauff underlined her quality on the surface with a dominant straightsets win to reach the Italian Open quarter-finals.

The World No 3 raced to a 6-1, 6-2 win over Raducanu, requiring just 79 minutes to progress to the Rome quarters for the third time as the American continues to build form ahead of the start of the French Open. After reaching the final of the Madrid Open, Gauff has won eight of her last nine matches, with her only defeat coming to World No 1 Aryna Sabalenka.

Raducanu had won three matches in a row to reach the last-16 in Rome for the first time – beating qualifier Maya Joint, lucky loser Jil Teichmann and Veronika Kudermetova – but former French Open finalist Gauff represented a step up in class and displayed her impressive court-coverage and aggressive shotmaking on the surface.

Raducanu admitted she was “outplayed” and called her defeat to Gauff a “tough day in the office” but tried to look at the positives.