Emma Raducanu crashes out of Australian Open in spirited loss to world No 94 | Tennis | Sport
World No 94 Yafan Wang beat Emma Raducanu 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to knock the Brit out of the Australian Open in the second round. Raducanu needed medical attention in the third set and appeared as though she was going to vomit on the court on several occasions. But the 21-year-old continued digging deep to finish the near three-hour match.
Raducanu made a sluggish start and appeared set for a quick exit as she trailed 5-2. But brave winners and a double fault from Wang offered hope of recovering the opening set to break in the eighth game. Raducanu then held serve but Wang won four straight points to seal the first set 6-4.
The Brit made a nightmare start to the second set as she conceded serve in the opening game. But Raducanu immediately found her feet. She broke back midway through the set and broke again in the eighth game.
Raducanu wasted two set points on her own serve while leading 5-3 and Wang struck back to break. In the following game Raducanu converted her fourth set point when Wang fired wide after trading blows from the baseline.
The third set followed the same trend as Raducanu surrendered her first service game. While trailing 2-0, the Brit required medical attention and had her blood pressure checked in the courtside chair.
The 2021 US Open champion was struggling physically but still gave it everything to hold serve and then almost break in a marathon 10-minute game. Both players held serve for the remainder of the match as Wang progressed into round three.