Emma Raducanu‘s Australian Open campaign came to an end on Thursday as she was beaten 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 by Wang Yafan in the second round in Melbourne.
The 21-year-old, who has missed the last eight months with injury, took time to adjust to the blustery conditions in Melbourne as she made a host of errors to lose the first set to her Chinese opponent.
Raducanu continued to falter at the beginning of the second before battling back in style to take the match to a deciding third set.
But the former U.S. Open champion appeared to struggle to match her opponent physically as the contest took its toll on the young Brit, with Raducanu calling for a physio and having her blood pressure taken with her head wrapped in a white towel.
She was eventually able to continue after receiving treatment but couldn’t replicate her best form despite a valiant effort as Wang ended Raducanu’s tournament in the second round.
Asked how she felt during and after the match, Raducanu told reporters: “Now I feel a little bit better. I had some time. During the match, I’d say, like, third set I was 30-Love up serving. Then all of a sudden just felt so sick, just really like weak and nauseous.
“Throughout the third set I think everyone could see it was a bit of a battle. Like physically, body-wise, I felt fine. It was more I was throwing up in my mouth. Then after the match, it came out. Now I’m OK. Yeah, I’ll get over it. It just sucks with the timing.
“Honestly I’ve been in that situation before in matches, whether it was with illness or injury, and retired a few times,” Raducanu added. “I think, to be honest, with what I went through last year, you feel awful right now, at some points I couldn’t really see the ball very well, but I think with everything I went through last year, it’s made me so much tougher.
“There was no way I was going to pull out. She was going to have to beat me, and she did. She served it out. I think the last year off and also just with the amount of niggles and everything that I had, the setbacks, it did make me a lot tougher.”
Meanwhile, Cameron Norrie battled through adversity, injury and rain delays to complete an incredible comeback at the Australian Open on Thursday as he reached the third round of the tournament for the third time in his career.
The 28-year-old eventually overcame Italian qualifier Giulio Zeppieri 3-6,…
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