Emma Raducanu's Italian Open opponent changed just hours before match

Emma Raducanu's Italian Open opponent has withdrawn from the tournament hours before their second-round match was due to begin. The Briton will now not play Ekaterina Alexandrova in her quest to win her first WTA 1000 title.

Instead, lucky loser Jil Teichmann will face Raducanu. The Swiss player was beaten in straight sets by Hailey Baptiste during qualifying. She is No. 96 in the WTA rankings, but was No. 21 as recently as three years ago. Raducanu, who has risen to No. 49 after a positive start to the year, will expect a tough test.

The 2021 US Open champion overcame Maya Joint in the first round. A 7-5 6-7 6-3 victory placed her in the second round in Rome. However, a slight worry for the 22-year-old is that she led 7-5 5-3 before Joint made an impressive comeback to win the second set.

A more routine deciding set for Raducanu was supposed to set up a second-round match against Alexandrova. However, the Russian has pulled out of the tournament with a shoulder injury.

Alexandrova, the world No. 22, also withdrew ahead of a match against Raducanu at Wimbledon last year. On that occasion, she cited illness as her reason for heading home early.

Raducanu has never played against Teichmann in a competitive match.

She has recently been working with Mark Petchey and Jane O'Donoghue as part of an 'informal' coaching team. However, despite sifting through eight coaches during her short career, Raducanu insists the jigsaw is not yet complete.

"It's been working pretty well," Raducanu told the BBC. "Mark is doing his commentary work and around that he is going to help me as much as he can and hopefully the times align that he can be there with me in the matches.

"That's why Jane is here for when he's not able to make it to the session. While she's not working it's nice to have her as much as possible, but she will go back to work and then I need to figure another solution out."

But LTA colleague Dan Evans is not convinced that the set-up has long-term potential. He pointed out that things might get awkward if part-time broadcaster Petchey is commentating on Raducanu's defeats.

Former British No. 1 Evans said: "It can't last if she starts losing matches and Petchey is in the commentary box. That's not going to work. I think Emma will be looking for a new coach again pretty soon if she starts to lose some matches on the grass into the US swing. I'm not sure how that can last as it is."

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