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Emma Radokano has vowed to show how far she has come by reversing the result that saw her defeat at Indian Wells by her Roland Garros second-round opponent Alexandra Sasnovich.
Radocano’s first match as last year’s US Open champion put her against Sasnovic in the second round of the then-world 100th-ranked California event and she came back to Earth with a bump, losing 6-2 6-4 in 1 hour 25 minutes.
“Maybe I wasn’t ready to compete right away,” Radocano said before the game’s second-ever main draw at Roland Garros.
“I guess I didn’t take a long break after the US Open. I was training four days after winning the championship. So, I am looking forward to the next game.
Raducanu vs. Sasnovich
- Date: Wednesday 25 May
- time: 11 am
- placeCourt: Susan Lenglin
- TV: Eurosport 1 (Sky Channel 410, BT 435, Virgin 521)
- Live in flowThe Discovery+ sports package is available online only for £6.99 per month or £59.99 per year on Sky, Amazon Prime Video, Roku, Vodafone, LG Smart TV, Samsung Smart TV and Amazon Fire TV
“I feel I personally have been through a lot of things in the past 12 months from a tennis point of view. I think I have evolved a lot and some things have changed.”
Raducano had to fight for her place in the second round, as she battled against 17-year-old qualifier Linda Noskova.
Britain’s No. 1 was a set and break for the 2021 French Open champion in wintry conditions before the sun rose, the pitch began to dry out and turned the match into the hugely successful Czech player.
He did so under the guidance of manager Ian Bates, agent Chris Hilliar, physiotherapist Will Herbert and new partner Raymond Sarmiento, a 29-year-old from California who was a former Top 300 player in his own right.
And while it’s a team effort, Raducanu hopes her new employee will be able to help her come up with a successful game plan.
Raymond was also with me at Indian Wells [so we’ll] See where I went wrong,” Raducanu added.
“But again I feel like it’s definitely a different game this time.”
It would also be different because Sasnovich would compete without the Belarusian flag next to his name as part of the Russian invasion of Ukraine prevented him from making a tour.
“I think it’s definitely a very sad situation for all the players,” Radocano said.
“I wouldn’t wish that for any of the players, but I think we are all here to compete in this tournament.
When we’re on the field it’s always the same, you still want to win and nothing in that sense will change.
Sasnovich beat China’s Wang Xinyu by losing only five matches to reach the second round at Roland Garros for the fifth time.
However, she never made it to the third round, and came close in 2017 when she lost in three sets to Zhang Shuai.
28 years old is not to be underestimated. It took world number 3 Paula Padusa more than two hours to defeat in Rome and eventual champion Angelique Kerber found her just as hard to stop.
Follow Sports on Facebook for more tennis news, interviews and featuresAnd or listen to I love the tennis podcast Presented by meIt’s James Gray on iTunes or Spotify or just search for “Love Tennis” wherever you find your audio files
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