Emma Raducanu will finalise her French Open preparations in Strasbourg next week after the British No 2 was handed a wildcard into the draw.
Raducanu made encouraging progress to the last 16 of the Italian Open, winning three clay-court matches in a row for the first time in her career before losing 6-1 6-2 to world No 3 Coco Gauff.
It was initially thought Raducanu’s run in Rome in the past few days would be her final outing before heading to Roland Garros for the second major of the year, which is set to get under way on 25 May.
But the 2021 US Open champion will instead squeeze in one more tournament and make her debut appearance at the Internationaux de Strasbourg, which begins on Monday.
The WTA tournament posted on X on Tuesday: “A new Grand Slam champion will step onto the clay courts of the £IS25: Emma RADUCANU!”
Raducanu is still developing on clay, a surface with which she is less familiar, and believes that more matches could be positive ahead of the year’s second grand slam.
“I would love to just keep improving, keep playing. I think that’s a positive for me,” Raducanu told Sky Sports after her defeat to Gauff.
“I don’t want to go and hide in a hole somewhere, I want to get back out there, so that’s good. “We’ll see how it goes in the next week before the French, if I get into Strasbourg. But, for now, I’ve played a good 12 days on the trot, so I’m looking forward a day off or so and then getting back to it.”
PA
