**Coco Gauff’s Italian Open Payday Outshines Emma Raducanu’s £55k Despite Final Loss**
Coco Gauff walked away from the 2025 Italian Open with a substantial $525,475 (€496,845) for reaching the women’s singles final, despite her 6-4, 6-2 defeat to Jasmine Paolini, as reported by Sportskeeda. Paolini, the champion, earned $1,008,999 (€877,390) from the tournament’s $6,911,032 prize pool. Gauff’s runner-up cheque reflects her strong performance, including a dominant 6-1, 6-2 fourth-round win over Emma Raducanu, and underscores her status as a top earner in 2025, with over $3 million in prize money already, per WTA data.
Emma Raducanu, who reached the fourth round before her loss to Gauff, earned £55,000 (approximately $70,000 or €65,000), a respectable sum for her deepest clay-court run of the season, per Express.co.uk. Her Italian Open campaign, which included an upset over Iga Swiatek, boosted her 2025 earnings to around $1.2 million, still trailing her $2.5 million from the 2021 US Open, per Tennis365.com. Raducanu’s prize money reflects her wildcard status and the WTA’s tiered payout structure, with fourth-round exits yielding significantly less than finalist payouts.
The disparity in earnings highlights the financial gap between deep tournament runs and earlier exits, even for high-profile players like Raducanu. Gauff’s cheque, nearly ten times Raducanu’s, was bolstered by her No. 2 seeding and consistent clay form, though her 28 unforced errors and foot injury in the final, noted by ESPN, cost her the title. Fans on X, like @DExpress_Sport, celebrated Gauff’s “nice pay cheque” while noting Raducanu’s solid earnings for a “great tournament,” per @SteveRedfearn2.
The Italian Open’s prize money structure, per wtatennis.com, also reveals a gender pay gap, with the men’s champion earning £831,192 compared to the women’s £740,363, a point of contention among fans on X. For Gauff, the financial reward softens the blow of her second consecutive WTA 1000 final loss, while Raducanu’s £55k adds to her resurgence narrative as she prepares for the WTA Strasbourg Open.[]
