Emma Raducanu is hampered by a blister on her racquet hand as she is knocked out of the Australian Open by Danka Kovinic.
| Dates: 17-30 January Venue: Melbourne Park |
| Coverage: Daily radio commentaries on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra, BBC Sport website and app, with selected live text commentaries online; TV highlights from middle Saturday. |
The US Open champion raced into a 3-0 lead before needing treatment on her hand and losing the opening set.
The 19-year-old showed remarkable resilience to fight back and win the second but eventually fell to a 6-4 4-6 6-3 defeat on Margaret Court Arena.
Montenegro’s Kovinic is into the last 32 of a Grand Slam for the first time.
“It was a really nice experience to play Emma here and make the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time after many years,” said Kovinic, the world number 98.
“Emma has had amazing results, winning a Grand Slam at such a young age. She is an amazing talent. I’m just so happy I could play such a high level.
“I was a little bit low in my energy through the third set so I tried to focus on myself, not show much emotion and save my energy.”
Raducanu had only lost one Grand Slam match before this meeting and while she may ultimately have been defeated, the Briton will surely have won even more admirers for her gutsy display.
The teenager has been spending almost 12 hours every day on site to “get my business done” – that, she says, means training, having lunch, doing recovery, more training, gym work and then more recovery.
That extra work initially paid dividends as Raducanu delivered the perfect start, breaking in the opening game and storming into a 3-0 lead.
She looked set to replicate her first-round meeting against Sloane Stephens, where she claimed the opening set without dropping a game, before being taken to a deciding set for the first time in her Grand Slam career.
For all Raducanu’s extra preparation she will not have anticipated a blister derailing her momentum.
But, at 3-2 after Kovinic had responded by winning two games, the Briton took a medical timeout for treatment on the affected hand.
Raducanu double faulted on her return and looked tentative as Kovinic broke again to level and complete the turnaround by winning five games in a row.
A toiling Raducanu strung together a series of cleverly constructed points to break for the third time, but that resistance was short lived as Kovinic closed out the set.
Raducanu digs in despite the pain
If Kovinic believed the second set would continue as a similar procession then Raducanu, smiling through gritted teeth, had other ideas.
The teenager seemed to be effectively playing with just a backhand at times, jabbing and slicing on her forehand side to compensate for the discomfort as she opened a 3-1 lead.
First-round opponent Stephens, a former US Open champion herself, warned Raducanu after their meeting that the teenager will have to learn to deal with “ups and downs”.
But Raducanu is a star student and showed during this chapter of her early Grand Slam education that she can learn on the job, letting out a huge “come on” after her adapted approach made it 4-2.
The world number 18 had a chance to extend that advantage with break point on Kovinic’s serve, but the Montenegrin displayed tactical nous and composure of her own to hold.
Raducanu appeared to be grimacing with every forehand yet still chalked up another two break points at 4-4 and converted a superb winner off the troublesome side.
The guile and desire that made her the first British woman to win a Grand Slam since Virginia Wade at Wimbledon in 1977 then shone through.
Raducanu complemented that punchy serve with aggressive groundstrokes to fend off two break-back points and take the second set, shaking her blistered hand in celebration.
Kovinic took a long bathroom break before the decider, no doubt wondering how she had failed to close out the match in two sets against an injured opponent.
Indeed it was Raducanu who missed early break points and then, on a sweltering day in Melbourne where temperatures touched 30C, the Briton began to look fatigued for the first time as Kovinic converted her own to open a 3-1 lead.
Both players looked on as the crowd cheered a seagull circling inside the arena, and it looked like the breather Raducanu needed, as she broke back to love.
But it was Kovinic who outlasted her opponent in the final set.
She teed up two match points and although she watched the first scream back past her off a Raducanu forehand winner, she then found the corner with a backhand to cap a fine display and reach the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career.
