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'Sad to see': Emma Raducanu in 'awful' drama at Australian Open

Sam Goodwin
·Sports Editor
·4-min read
Emma Raducanu, pictured here looking dejected as she crashed out of the Australian Open.
Emma Raducanu was hampered by blisters as she crashed out of the Australian Open. Image: Getty

Fans were left shattered on Thursday night when Emma Raducanu crashed out of the Australian Open in sad scenes after suffering from debilitating blisters.

The US Open champion became the latest seeded women's star to be bundled out in Melbourne, going down 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 to Danka Kovinic.

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The 19-year-old revealed after the match that the blisters were so bad that some of her team advised her not to play.

Making her debut at Melbourne Park, Raducanu looked on track when she raced to a 3-0 lead in the opening set.

But the 17th seed then lost five games in a row and needed a medical timeout for treatment on her right hand, and said afterwards that the blisters were so bad she had only been able to practise backhands before the match.

Despite battling back to win the second set she couldn't stop 98th-ranked Kovinic prevailing on Margaret Court Arena.

"I was struggling with my hand before the match. There were some people in my team that maybe didn't want me to play, but I wanted to go out there and fight through it, see how far I could get," said the Briton.

"I thought it was a pretty good learning experience for me. I discovered tools about myself and my game that I didn't know I had before.

"I can take some positives even from this match."

Fans were left devastated for Raducanu as she cut a dejected figure while leaving the court.

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Raducanu said she had suffered from blisters before on her hand "but never this bad".

"I actually wasn't hitting forehands in practice the last few days. I was only saving it for my match. I wasn't hitting serves, either," she said.

"So the only thing I was really practising was my backhand."

The result put Kovinic into the third round of a major for the first time.

She will now play two-time grand slam winner Simona Halep, who crushed Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-2, 6-0 for a place in the fourth round.

Emma Raducanu and Danka Kovinic, pictured here after their second round clash at the Australian Open.
Emma Raducanu congratulates Danka Kovinic after their second round clash at the Australian Open. (Photo by Robert Prange/Getty Images) (Getty Images)

"It's my first time to be in the third round after so many years and it is, honestly, an amazing feeling because I really wanted this for so long," said Kovinic.

"And I'm so glad that I can be the first Montenegrin ever to make it to this round.

"I'm making these results and making history in tennis for Montenegro. It's a huge thing for me."

Raducanu joined fellow top seeds Garbine Muguriza, Anett Kontaveit and Elena Rybakina in crashing out of the Australian Open on Thursday.

World No.2 Aryna Sabalenka managed to escape the carnage despite coughing up 19 double-faults against Xinyu Wang.

Sabalenka regrouped after committing 12 doubles in her first two service games alone to advance 1-6 6-4 6-2.

Polish seventh seed Iga Swiatek also progressed with a far more routine 6-2 6-2 victory over Swede Rebecca Peterson.

with agencies

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