Late opponent change for Emma Raducanu as Ekaterina Alexandrova withdraws from Rome Open

Emma Raducanu will deal with a late opponent change at the Rome Open which as ever can go one of two ways as she will now face the lower ranked Jil Teichmann instead of Ekaterina Alexandrova.

Raducanu saw off 19-year-old Maya Joint 7-5, 6-7(1), 6-3 in the opening round after falling to Marta Kostyuk in three sets at the Madrid Open. She served for the prior match in the second set but had to return for a third.

Raducanu knows Ekaterina Alexandrova well. They have met twice this year with Raducanu winning their first match at the Australian Open. Alexandrova on the other hand triumphed in Doha. However their meeting in Doha isn't set to happen.

Shortly before the tie, Alexandrova withdrew from the tournament. Normally that would be a walkover for Raducanu like it was for Ons Jabeur yesterday.

But Raducanu unlike Jabeur isn't the seeded player. Alexandrova was in this case so instead of being given a walk-over, she is given a lucky loser. In this case that lucky loser is Jil Teichmann. She beat Federica di Sarra in the first round of qualifying before losing to Hailey Baptiste in Round Two.

As a result, it could be a tricky situation for her. Laura Siegemund for instance came in for Karolina Muchova yesterday and won her tie against Lucia Bronzetti and now faces Jelena Ostapenko so often it favours a player with nothing to lose.