Emma Raducanu exited the Italian Open on Monday afternoon after she was convincingly beaten and outclassed by Coco Gauff, winning three games in a match which lasted just 79 minutes.
Raducanu was always expected to play the part of the underdog in this round of 16 showdown. She trails world No3 Gauff considerably in seedings rankings, and faced a considerable task to beat her on clay after she had reached the final of the Madrid Open last month.
Gauff, who made it two career wins from two against Raducanu, felt her performance was worthy of an A grade, citing the dry, windy conditions and stiff opposition. She will face either Russian seventh seed Mirra Andreeva or Denmark's Clara Tauson in the next round.
The American stumbled out of the blocks, recording a double fault with her first serve of the day before quickly recovering to romp to a 3-0 lead in the first set after rescuing a break point in her second service game.
Raducanu did her best to keep up in the first set, but could not cope with Gauff’s stamina and power. The American already had a fitness advantage, having played one less match in the tournament than her opponent, and put Raducanu through her paces, distributing shots around the court to ensure she covered as much distance as possible under the beating Italian sun.
As the 2023 US Open champion served for the first set, Raducanu did all in her power to force another game. She saved four set points, but five proved one too many as Gauff took the first set in just 39 minutes.
As Raducanu served to open the second set, it briefly appeared that she would offer up a comeback. Having collected herself in the interval, she levelled a string of heavy forehands at Gauff, and it was her turn to make the unforced errors.
She would recover from that brief stumble in the blink of an eye, though, holding serve at forty love.
As Raducanu did her best to cling on, she put a would-be winner just wide of the boundary to set Gauff up to serve for the match. She converted the final game in short order, securing victory on her second match point to send Raducanu packing.
