Hard to stomach for Raducanu as sickness strikes
ZAPPED of her energy by a sudden bout of sickness, Emma Raducanu exited the Australian Open yesterday, betrayed by her body in the deciding set of an exhausting battle in Melbourne.
Raducanu gave her all as she looked to continue in her first Grand Slam since this tournament last year, but even Achilles was only as strong as his heel. The stomach bug hindered the 21-year-old enough that China’s Yafan Wang prevailed 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 after two hours and 55 minutes of brutal tennis.
No stranger to injuries or illness in her career, Raducanu departed in disappointment and many will view this as a missed opportunity to reach the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time since winning the 2021 US Open.
That includes Raducanu herself, knowing she was considered favourite to oust her Chinese opponent ranked 94 in the world.
Yet the fact Wang contracted cramp upon securing victory showed how hard she had to fight on an unusually cool night in Melbourne, and by the end, this could not be categorised as a tame exit by the English woman.
Raducanu was bending over to take breathers midway through the dramatic decider, having her blood pressure taken during a medical timeout, and, as she admitted rather grotesquely afterwards, being sick in her mouth. Ultimately, her powers waned too much in one of the longest matches of her career.
Though Raducanu’s Grand Slam comeback is at an end, there were positives to take from this return to the big stage. Sickness aside, she felt strong physically, with neither the wrists nor the left ankle posing problems after her surgery last year.
There was some terrific tennis on show amid a succession of lengthy rallies, which were always going to test the lungs of Raducanu after eight months of injuryenforced inactivity which has reduced her to a ranking of 296 in the world.
She struggled at first as her attempts at striking winners landed beyond the lines. Wang took advantage of this sloppiness, breaking to take a 3-1 lead as the British fans sang: ‘Let’s go, Emma, let’s go.’ Wang saw out the first set with Raducanu’s unforced errors count at 15 amid the whirling gusts of wind.
Raducanu’s record in coming back from a set down was not the best, as she had won eight and lost 30 from such scenarios.
It was another error which allowed Wang to break at the start of the second set. The 29year-old’s plan seemed simple enough — she knew if she sent the ball back over the net, chances were Raducanu would make a mistake.
Wang had to battle back from 6-0, 4-1 down to shock 22nd seed Sorana Cirstea in her first-round victory. Suddenly, she was the one in command, leading 6-4, 2-0 and with two chances to break, which Raducanu saved to keep herself in this contest. That became something of a turning point.
Chewing on the gold cross hanging around her neck, Raducanu refused to wait for divine intervention. She took hold of the match, looking much more at ease with the wind.
Serving for the set at 5-3, Raducanu was broken when she ballooned a forehand long. That was merely a momentary blip as she broke Wang to level up the match, with the second set alone taking a tiring 65 minutes to complete after which both players exited for bathroom breaks.
The momentum seemed to be with Raducanu but at the start of the deciding set, she was broken. Suddenly, the sickness took hold as she squandered three chances to break back in the following game.
There could be no blaming the blazing heat this time. Conditions were cool – 18ºC as the clock struck 9pm in Melbourne – but she was in clear discomfort.
Raducanu seemingly used a towel to be sick into as the medical team were called to provide assistance. Trailing 0-40 in the next game, the tank looked empty, yet Raducanu reached into her reserves to keep herself in the match as Wang led 2-1 rather than 3-0.
In a battle against herself, Raducanu could not stop Wang serving out the win as she smacked a shot into the net from close range on match point.
Meanwhile, despite efforts to avoid late finishes, yesterday morning, Daniil Medvedev and Emil Ruusuvuori shook hands at 3.40am local time.
Utterly ridiculous. As John Isner said on X: ‘No one should be playing tennis at 3.30am. This is looney tunes.’
As Medvedev himself said after completing a bloody-minded comeback from two sets down: ‘I would not be here. If I was a tennis fan I would go home at 1am, watch half an hour on TV and go to bed.’
The No3 seed’s epic win brought an end to an extraordinary day of men’s tennis. Only one of 16 matches finished in straight sets.
The biggest name to fall was Holger Rune, taken out in four sets by Arthur Cazaux, an old rival from the juniors.
Casper Ruud and Alexander Zverev were dragged to the brink of elimination but both won 10-7 in deciding-set tiebreaks.
And Elena Rybakina was knocked out of the women’s event yesterday after losing the longest tiebreak in Grand Slam history. The Kazakh No3 seed was beaten 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (22-20) by Anna Blinkova of Russia after a shootout that lasted 31 minutes.