Australian Open: Yafan Defeats Raducanu

Emma Raducanu battled valiantly before running out of steam as her Grand Slam return was ended by China’s Wang Yafan in the Australian Open second round.

Britain’s Raducanu, 21, was beaten 6-4 4-6 6-4 in only her fourth match back after wrist and ankle surgeries which kept her out for almost nine months.

Surprisingly, Wang was dictating most of the points and broke for a second time to go 5-2 up when Raducanu whistled a backhand wide.

Raducanu looked like she was going to be sick early in the third set and had her blood pressure checked by a doctor.

Despite that, she had chances to break back in the decider but Wang held on.

Raducanu’s exit came after Katie Boulter, who has taken over as British number one, lost to Chinese 12th seed Zheng Qinwen on the same Kia Arena court.

They were bidding to set up an all-British meeting in the third round, but instead it is the Chinese pair who will meet on Saturday.

The defeats for Raducanu and Boulter mean there are no British players left in the women’s singles.

Cameron Norrie, who fought back from two sets down to win in five sets earlier on Thursday, is the only remaining player from the nation in the singles draws.

BBC

Australian Open: Yafan Defeats Raducanu