British No. 1 Emma Raducanu, who is the top seed at this week’s WTA 250 Transylvania Open in Romania, claimed an opening victory against Belgium’s Greet Minnen, her first match since splitting from her coach, Francis Roig, after the Australian Open.
I think today was a great performance. I wanted to bring my game out on the field, and indoors it’s a little bit easier, so I’m really happy that I was able to use that in a way. I played a very difficult opponent in Greet, who starts the point really well, so I knew I had to do the same, and was happy to stick with it. Emma Raducanu
Raducanu, who has struggled to find stability in her team since her stunning breakthrough at the 2021 US Open, is working with former British professional Alexis Canter as her coach in Romania, and she looked relaxed in an impressive performance as she brushed aside Minnen 6-0 6-4 in 70 minutes on Monday.
“Very happy today. I think I played a great match from the start,” the world number 30 told former Wimbledon champion Simona Halep, who is an honorary ambassador of the tournament. “I was super aggressive and the crowd was incredible from the moment I walked out.
“I think today was a great performance. I wanted to show my game on the field, and indoors it’s a little bit easier, so I’m very happy that I could use that in some way.”
“I played a very difficult opponent in Greet, who starts the point really well, so I knew I had to do the same and was happy to stick with it.”
The 23-year-old hired Roig, Rafael Nadal’s former coach, last summer but said she planned to “re-evaluate” her game after her second-round exit at Melbourne Park as she wanted to strike with more freedom.
“I think I’ll take a few days, go back home and try to re-evaluate my game a little bit,” Raducanu said before leaving Melbourne. “I think I want to play in a different way, and I think the misalignment with how I play now and how I want to play is something I just want to work on.”
The shift in emphasis was evident in Raducanu’s win over Minnen as she showed good ball striking and did not face a single break point, kickstarting her new approach.
Returning to Cluj-Napoca After a five-year break since her last appearance, Raducanu was in no mood to hang around and won the opening set 6-0 in just 25 minutes.
She broke in the third game of the second, with the Belgian putting up a bigger fight, but it was Raducanu who came through to set up a second-round meeting with Slovenian world number 97 Kaja Juvan on Wednesday.
Raducanu fell one place in the WTA rankings to No. 30 on Monday after her defeat to Anastasia Potapova at the season-opening Grand Slam, and is currently on 1,547 points.
Players earn 1 point for participating in the first round of WTA 250 events, but Raducanu has also dropped 1 point from her campaign in Abu Dhabi 12 months ago as the WTA operates a rolling, cumulative 52-week system.
It means there is no movement in her position in the live rankings, but by reaching the second round she is certain to add at least 30 points, resulting in a rise of two places to number 28 in the rankings.
If she beats Juvan and reaches the quarterfinals, she will move to 1,591 points, which could push her up one more spot to No. 27.
Raducanu, who has yet to announce her next coach following Roig’s departure, will head to the Middle East after Romania for the WTA 1000 tournaments in Doha and Dubai, which start next week.
Her next opponent, Slovenian Kaja Juan, advanced with a 6-3 6-4 win over 19-year-old Romanian wildcard Elena Ruxandra Bertea in one hour and 46 minutes.
Home favorite Sorana Cirstea came from 2-4 behind in the second set to beat Russian Kamilla Rakhimova on Monday in Cluj-Napoca
In other first-round results on Monday, qualifier Maja Chwalinska of Poland wove a web of drop shots to beat Romanian wildcard Ana Bogdan 6-2 6-2, as the former world number 39 played only her second event after a six-month break; while seventh seed Olga Danilovic from Serbia opened with a win against another local wildcard, Miriam Bulgaru, 6-4 6-3, and improved to 2-1 against the Romanian, and will meet Chwalinska in round 2.
Third seed Sorana Cirstea, a home favourite, came from 2-4 down in the second set to beat Russia’s Kamilla Rakhimova 6-4 6-4. She will next face lucky loser Tamara Zidansek, who won an all-Slovenian derby against Veronika Erjavec 6-1 6-4, claiming her first tour-level win since Hua Hin in 2024; while Russian Anastasia Zakharova rallied from a set down to beat 2024 champion Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic and turn on the power to beat the wildcard, 4-6 6-2 6-2.
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