{"id":93997,"date":"2025-05-12T00:20:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T00:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/93997\/"},"modified":"2025-05-12T00:20:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T00:20:11","slug":"are-you-sure-emma-raducanu-shocked-as-she-learns-coco-gauff-is-next-opponent-live-on-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/93997\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Are you sure?&#8217; &#8211; Emma Raducanu shocked as she learns Coco Gauff is next opponent live on court"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Emma Raducanu is relishing the opportunity to face Coco Gauff in the next round of the Italian Open.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The pair will meet in Rome on Monday for a place in the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Raducanu was stunned to discover her next opponent at the Italian Open\" height=\"459\" width=\"561\" data-credit=\"Sky Sports\" data-img=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Emma-Raducanu-Italian-Open-1.jpg\" data-caption=\"Raducanu was stunned to discover her next opponent at the Italian Open\"   loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Emma-Raducanu-Italian-Open-1.jpg\" role=\"img\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>3<\/p>\n<p>Raducanu was stunned to discover her next opponent at the Italian OpenCredit: Sky Sports<a href=\"#\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"The Brit was told she will face Gauff live on court after her win on Sunday\" height=\"472\" width=\"561\" data-credit=\"Sky Sports\" data-img=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Emma-Raducanu-Italian-Open-2-1.jpg\" data-caption=\"The Brit was told she will face Gauff live on court after her win on Sunday\"   loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Emma-Raducanu-Italian-Open-2-1.jpg\" role=\"img\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>3<\/p>\n<p>The Brit was told she will face Gauff live on court after her win on SundayCredit: Sky Sports<\/p>\n<p>It follows wins for both players on Sunday to set up their clay court clash.<\/p>\n<p>Gauff secured a straight sets victory over Magda Linette in her third round tie to move into the last 16.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Raducanu saw off Veronika Kudermetova 5-7, 6-0, 6-1 in her last 32 match.<\/p>\n<p>The Brit was shocked to learn she would be facing the world no.3 next, though, having been informed live on air.<\/p>\n<p>A shocked Raducanu responded in an interview with Sky Sports: &#8220;I haven\u2019t looked at the draw to be honest but she\u2019s a great competitor. Are you sure I\u2019m playing Coco?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The 2021 <a href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/topic\/us-open\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">US Open<\/a> champion added: &#8220;I think I\u2019m playing pretty good tennis right now and she is going to be a great test.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I mean she\u2019s made the final of the French Open so she\u2019s great on this surface. I\u2019m just going to keep focussed but savour this one for now.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Gauff won their only previous meeting in the second round of the 2023 Australian Open.<\/p>\n<p>The American is also fresh from reaching the final of the Madrid Open last week.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Gauff is the fourth seed in Rome after reaching the final of the Madrid Open last week\" height=\"640\" width=\"960\" data-credit=\"Getty\" data-img=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/coco-gauff-united-states-plays-991270714.jpg\" data-caption=\"Gauff is the fourth seed in Rome after reaching the final of the Madrid Open last week\"   loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/coco-gauff-united-states-plays-991270714.jpg\" role=\"img\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>3<\/p>\n<p>Gauff is the fourth seed in Rome after reaching the final of the Madrid Open last weekCredit: Getty<\/p>\n<p>As for Raducanu, she is already on her best ever run at the Italian Open having made the last 16.<\/p>\n<p>Her only previous appearance in the tournament three years ago ended in a first round exit.<\/p>\n<p>After coming from behind to beat Kudermetova, Raducanu said: &#8220;The best thing for me was recovering from the first set after serving for it.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m so happy that I didn&#8217;t let the rest of the match get away from me &#8211; I think that&#8217;s big progress maybe compared to the matches I&#8217;ve played in the past.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The 22-year-old is now just two wins away from <a href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/tennis\/3186998\/emma-raducanu-katie-boulter-italian-open-world-rankings\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">reclaiming the mantle of British no.1<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Reaching the semi-finals would see Raducanu leapfrog world no.40 Katie Boulter in the WTA rankings.<\/p>\n<p>It would be the first time she has been the top ranked female British player in two years.<\/p>\n<p>Boulter ousted Raducanu from the position back in June 2023 and has held it ever since.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Emma Raducanu is relishing the opportunity to face Coco Gauff in the next round of the Italian Open.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":93998,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4105],"tags":[6740,1070,25564,79,1068,16,15,5069],"class_list":{"0":"post-93997","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-coco-gauff","9":"tag-emma-raducanu","10":"tag-italian-open","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-tennis","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-wta"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114492003092230842","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}