After taking a tight first set, Raducanu was serving for the match at 5-4 in the second when a resurgent Joint fought back and was able to take the former US Open champion to a tie-break, which the 19-year-old breezed through 7-1.
Raducanu then had to regroup for the deciding set and raced into a 5-0 lead, only to be pegged back again by Joint who won the next three games. She finally closed out the set on serve after two hours and 44 minutes.
During a bathroom break after the second set, Raducanu used the thought of losing the match to fuel her motivation going into the decider.
“That was pretty powerful and strong,” added the 22-year-old.
Raducanu returned to action in April after taking a month-long break from competitive tennis. She made it through to the second round at the Madrid Open two weeks ago but fell to a straight-set defeat by Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk.
In the men’s competition, British number three Norrie was defeated by Serbian Dusan Lajovic in the qualifying round on Tuesday, but he received a spot in the main draw as a lucky loser.
The 29-year-old dropped just five games against O’Connell in a 76-minute match and told Sky Sports he channelled his anger into overcoming the Australian following his disappointing performance against Lajovic.
“I was sharp, I didn’t give him much and I played some physical tennis,” said Norrie. “I was just really happy I turned that energy around.”
For Boulter, after earning the first WTA clay-court win of her career last month in Madrid, she struggled to repeat the same form in Rome against Pavlyuchenkova, despite the former French Open finalist being on a four-match losing streak.
