No.9 seed
Emma Raducanu pulled off a brilliant first-set comeback on her
Madrid Open debut, coming from 5-2 down and saving two set points before defeating Tereza Martincova 7-6(3), 6-0 in 1 hour and 36 minutes.
Raducanu's first-ever pro match on clay was a 7-5, 7-5 win over Martincova in Billie Jean King Cup qualifier action just a fortnight ago. The Czech came out firing in a bid for revenge, but Raducanu managed to raise her level in spectacular fashion to win 11 of the last 12 games.
She said:
"Whenever you play at a tournament for the first time it is different. And on a new court, I didn't practice on that one, so I was just trying to get familiar with the surroundings. And she came out swinging very well, so I was definitely feeling like I had to dig in here because I knew I wasn't playing my best at the beginning. So I'm proud of the way I was able to make the most out of what had on the day and then I settled down in the second set."
Her next opponent is Marta Kostyuk who is very familiar to Raducanu. On the matchup she said:
"All throughout juniors she was always the favorite when we played. She was considered much better. Yeah, it's a funny one. When we played last year she played very good, but also I wasn't very well that day. So it'll be an interesting match-up."