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Emma Raducanu beat Belgium’s Greet Minnen at the Transylvania Open in her first match since splitting from coach Francis Roig.
The 23-year-old hired Rafael Nadal’s former coach Roeg last summer but said she planned to “re-evaluate” her game after her second-round exit at the Australian Open.
Raducanu, who has struggled to find consistency in the team since her stunning breakthrough at the 2021 U.S. Open, was coached by former British pro Alexis Canter and looked relaxed and impressive as she beat Minnan 6-0 6-4 in Romania on Monday.
Raducanu vs Minnion: The story of the tape
Raducanu’s 2025 campaign ended slowly due to injury and they got off to a slow start, losing their only game in the Federation Cup before being eliminated in the quarter-finals of the Hobart International.
At the Australian Open, she defeated Thai qualifier Mananchaya Sawangkaew in the first round before losing to Anastasia Potapova in the second round.
But five years on from her last appearance, Raducanu – the top seed – returned to Cluj-Napoca and was in no mood to linger, winning the first set 6-0 in just 25 minutes.
Raducanu won 90% of first serve points in first bagel set
Raducanu broke serve in the third game of the second set, and the Belgian played harder, but the British world number one broke easily and clashed with the Slovenian world number 97 Kaya Juwan Wednesday.
“Very happy today. I thought I played a great match from the start. I was very aggressive and from the moment I walked out the crowd was unbelievable,” the world No. 30 said in front of former Wimbledon champion Simona Halep, the tournament’s honorary ambassador.
“I thought it was a great performance today. I wanted to bring my game to the court and it’s a little easier indoors, so I’m really happy that I was able to take advantage of that. I had a really tough opponent in Gretel who got off to a really good start, so I knew I had to do the same thing and I’m glad I stuck with it.”
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Raducanu addressed the crowd in Romanian during an interview after defeating Gerrit Minnen at the Transylvania Open
After Romania, Raducanu will head to the Middle East to compete in the WTA 1000 events in Doha (February 8-14) and Dubai (February 16-22) – both events in sky sports live.
She will then compete in Indian Wells and the Miami Open in March.
“Finding the right balance is hard”
Jonathan Overund asks: “What does Raducanu really want on the tennis court and in the tournament?”
sky sportsCommentator Jonathan Overend reflects on the aftermath of Raducanu’s Australian Open withdrawal:
“I think she’s spent a lot of time in her young career re-evaluating. On the one hand, that explains why she’s been through so many coaches and why she’s been criticized for it.
“It’s typical of Raducanu that she wants to constantly re-evaluate and figure out what’s best for her in and around tennis. That challenge continues and to some extent it’s a struggle because finding the right balance is very difficult, but I think she’s slowly getting there, not in terms of Grand Slam results but in terms of the re-evaluation process.
“What does she really want on the tennis court and in the tournament?”
Kartal’s exciting week continues in Abu Dhabi
Sonai Kartar reaches second round in Abu Dhabi, her fantastic week continues after qualifying
Sonay Kartal advanced to the last 16 of the Abu Dhabi Open with a 6-3 7-6 (10-8) victory over Cristina Bucsa.
Kartal, who had gone through two rounds of qualifying, led 5-2 in the second set before Busca rebounded to force a tie-break.
The Briton next faces top seed Belinda Bencic of Switzerland on Tuesday.
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