Coco Gauff and Emma Raducanu will reunite once more on the WTA Tour, with the duo going head-to-head at the Italian Open.
Raducanu has praised Gauff ahead of their match, which takes place in the fourth round of the WTA 1000 tournament.
Gauff has overcome Victoria Mboko and Magda Linette to reach the last 16 of the Italian Open, where she is the fourth seed.
Raducanu meanwhile has had a longer journey, defeating Maya Joint, Jil Teichmann and Veronika Kudermetova.
Gauff holds a 1-0 win-loss record over Raducanu heading into the match, although both are US Open champions.
Coco Gauff gives her opinion on Emma Raducanu ahead of Italian Open clash
The American won her one and only Grand Slam title to date in 2023, two years after the Briton did the same.
And speaking of her next opponent after her latest win in Rome, Gauff said of Raducanu: “Yeah she’s obviously a great player. Last time we played it was a tough match, and it’s going to be a different matchup on clay here.
“But I think she has the game to be a great clay court player, obviously a great player in general, but especially on clay, so it’s going to be a tough match, and yeah I’m looking forward to it and you know hopefully I can come out with the win.”
Coco Gauff shares how she overcomes early frustration on court
Gauff and Raducanu faced off back at the 2023 Australian Open, where the former was the seventh seed.
And she avoided an upset against the latter, defeating the Briton 6-3, 7-6(7-4) in their second round encounter.
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Her focus is now firmly on clay and on the Italian Open, with Gauff having also been asked to grade her win over 32nd seed Linette.
Speaking of the 7-5, 6-3 victory, she said: “I don’t know. I would say probably like a B maybe. I think I was playing the right way the whole match.
“I think I could have got a little bit more depth in the first set, which I ended up doing in the second. But yeah, I think… maybe even an A, honestly, because I lost to her in Miami, so it was good to get some revenge.”
The success came after a comeback 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 win over Mboko, with the American also giving insight into overcoming early frustration on the court, having needed five match points to beat Linette.
“Yeah I just try to focus on breathing and try to slow my breath down, and just try to forget about it,” she explained.
“I mean at that point, can’t change the past, so just try to do better for the next balls. Yeah, it definitely was frustrating towards the end losing some of those match points, but happy that I was able to close it off on my serve.”
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