Emma Raducanu has advanced to the third round of the Australian Open for the first time after battling through injury against her friend Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 7-5.
The 22-year-old required treatment for what appeared to be a problem with her lower back – it has plagued her since a spasm before Christmas – but she emerged victorious and will meet the mighty Iga Swiatek on Saturday.
If Raducanu carries any suspicion of injury in that match, she certainly won’t last much longer in Melbourne, but what matters now is that she showed a tenacity rarely seen before in winning despite physical inconveniences.
Raducanu’s back spasmed in preparation as she bent down to tie her shoes, forcing her to miss two weeks of training and the Auckland Open.
Even here in Melbourne she struggled to serve at full strength in training and in her first round win against Ekaterina Alexandrova she hit 15 double faults.
So there was clearly still some discomfort, but she made her way through the first set excellently, although it was noticeable that she spoke more with fitness trainer Yutaka Nakamura than with coach Nick Cavaday.
Emma Raducanu has advanced to the third round of the Australian Open for the first time
The Brit battled an injury and defeated her friend Amanda Anisimova (pictured) 6-3, 7-5
In the first game of the second set, she hit three double faults and the wincing became a little more apparent.
At 3-0 the physio came along and worked both hips, apparently to try to loosen the lower back.
Raducanu doesn’t exactly have the best track record when it comes to overcoming injuries, so the odds seemed heavily in Anisimova’s favor.
But tennis is a strange sport and there are times when an injury to an opponent can throw a player’s mind into disarray. This was a stark example, as Anisimova completely lost her head for three matches.
The temptation when playing an injured opponent is to stay steady and let him run, but that’s not Anisimova’s game, and by deviating from her aggressive style she lost all rhythm. In one service game she hit two doubles and a poor second serve of 111 km/h.
Raducanu reduced the score to 3-3 and was 30-0 ahead on own serve, but Anisimova took four points. The physio came back at the next transfer.
However, Raducanu immediately broke back and served at 4-4 in what felt like a huge match. At 30-30 Anisimova had her on the run in the forehand corner; Raducanu stretched out his arm and clawed back a raking, low ball. She roared and pumped her fists, the first expression of positive emotion since the medical timeout.
It felt like an important shot, not just in the context of the match, but also in terms of the late-sequence physical work she did with Nakamura to strengthen Raducanu in exactly such a situation as this.
The former 2021 US Open champion required on-court treatment from a physio
Raducanu doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to overcoming injuries, but brushed it off
She also won the next point and raised a fist to the sky in defiance.
There was another excellent slice backhand at the end of Raducanu’s run as Anisimova served successfully to stay in the set.
Raducanu was struggling and fighting, scraping and demolishing the balls back into play. Anisimova is as good a ball striker as there is in world tennis, but when she has to improvise in the forecourt she struggles, so Raducanu’s low defensive shots worried her.
Once again Anisimova served to stay in the match, but this time Raducanu earned a match point. She played a beautiful skimming piece and Anisimova cut it predictably wide.
Raducanu put her hands on her head in disbelief and a warm embrace ensued between the two friends at the net.