His beautifully choreographed Centre Court sendoff on Thursday night was neither a final nor a victory, yet somehow it felt like both. At the time, it wasn’t even a farewell, given that Murray was entered in the mixed doubles with Emma Raducanu – although that has changed now that Raducanu has withdrawn from their scheduled first-round match.

It remains to be seen whether Raducanu, who said she woke up with stiffness in her right wrist following her third-round win over Maria Sakkari, will suffer a backlash over her decision. After undergoing surgery on both wrists last summer, and with the chance to reach a first Wimbledon quarter-final on the line when she faces Kiwi qualifier Lulu Sun on Sunday, her caution will be understandable to many. Then again, her partner has a metal hip, suffered ruptured ankle ligaments only a few months ago, and had surgery on his spine on the eve of Wimbledon. Were the roles reversed, it is hard to imagine anything would have prevented Murray from taking to the court.

The mood in the Murray camp seems clear. When broadcaster Marcus Buckland described Raducanu’s withdrawal as “astonishing” in a social media post, Murray’s mother, Judy, replied: “Yes, astonishing.” Ultimately, though, perhaps it is more fitting that Murray’s Wimbledon career ended alongside his older brother, Jamie, on a midweek night that felt more like the second Sunday.

All the hallmarks of a final were in evidence. The rapturous, prolonged standing ovation. The address to the crowd. The televised walk back to the locker room, applauded by the great and the good of the All England Club, before a pause to wave to the assembled throng outside Centre Court from the walkway leading to the millennium building. Murray, twice a champion on the grass of Wimbledon, has done it all before, of course. But never quite like this. The beauty of the occasion lay partly in treating him as though he had just won a third title. 

In reality, of course, it was just an opening-round doubles match, one the Murrays lost in straight sets to the Australian pairing of Rinky Hijikata and John Peers. But that was immaterial. It was a night for reliving past glories with family, friends and fans, not for dwelling on the realities of the present. 

To that end, Sue Barker, another national treasure, resurfaced from retirement to conduct one last Centre Court interview with Murray, just as she had done after each of his three finals. The look of astonishment on the brothers’ faces when she appeared was priceless. So too was the initial tremor of emotion in Barker’s voice. As always, she captured the mood perfectly. 

The video montage that followed, which interspersed footage of Murray’s greatest moments with contributions from Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Venus Williams, left nary a dry eye in the house. Up in the stands, Judy and Kim, Murray’s wife, struggled to contain their emotions. Down on the court, Jamie fared little better. The one person who held it together, for the most part at least, was Murray. He had earlier left the court to compose himself for what was to come, and although he wiped away a tear as the crowd gave him an ovation that felt like it would never end, this was not a repeat of his speech after losing the 2012 final to Federer – even if he did use similar words, reflecting that “it wasn’t easy” to come back and win the following year.

“I did find it pretty stressful to be honest with you,” said Murray. “But I obviously had an amazing team of people around me, supporting me through all of that. 

“The crowd support obviously made a huge difference. Playing at home is a huge advantage in all sports, and I used it that day. Novak [Djokovic] had an off-day, obviously. I just managed to get over the line. I didn’t really actually enjoy it as much as I should’ve done. I just found the whole thing very, very stressful.”

He will have found his conversation with Barker barely less so. The obvious parallels with Federer’s tearful farewell interview with Jim Courier at the 2022 Laver Cup were accentuated by the on-court presence of a stellar array of former Wimbledon champions –Djokovic, John McEnroe, Martina Navratilova, Conchita Martínez and also Lleyton Hewitt, after whom one of Murray’s dogs is named. This being Wimbledon, there was also a British contingent comprising of Jack Draper, Cameron Norrie, Dan Evans and Tim Henman (although, curiously, not Jamie Delgado, Murray’s former coach, or Laura Robson, alongside whom he won a mixed doubles silver medal at the London Olympics, both of whom looked on from the wings). 

Fittingly, given Murray’s steadfast support for the women’s game throughout his career, Iga Swiatek, the world No 1, was also in the line-up, as was Holger Rune, the Danish world No 15, with whom he played doubles in Brisbane this year.

The moments that threatened to tip Murray over the edge – talk of his family, and of the injury-plagued conclusion to his journey in the sport – were also redolent of Federer’s farewell. Yet Murray’s dry wit and raw honesty ensured the occasion remained uniquely his own. It is hard to imagine Federer recounting quite so many tales about vomiting. The final-that-wasn’t will linger in the memory beside Murray’s other Centre Court highlights, another remarkable chapter in his Wimbledon story. Short of winning the title, nothing he might have achieved alongside Raducanu would have come close.

“When the video was playing, my head was spinning a lot, because I know I’m about to have to speak,” said Murray. “It’s difficult in those moments, because there’s a lot of people you want to thank and address, but it’s also not easy, it’s pretty emotional. 

“Watching the video was nice, but hard as well for me, because you know it’s coming to the end of something that you’ve absolutely loved doing for such a long time. So that’s difficult. 

“It was really nice that a lot of the players stayed. I obviously have very close and good relationships with the British guys that were there, but there were also a number of players there on that court that I’ve got enormous respect for, some of the greatest players in the history of the game, so it was really nice that they stuck behind, because we did finish quite late.”

It was the least he deserved. There has been so much noise around Murray on his final visit to the All England Club as a player, so many questions and doubts and what-ifs following his recent back surgery. Play or don’t play; singles, doubles, mixed; injured, fit, somewhere in between. In the end, none of it mattered. Murray’s legacy in these parts was secure from the moment a Djokovic backhand nosedived into the net 11 summers ago, signalling the end of Britain’s 77-year wait for a Wimbledon champion. 

What followed will forever live on in the national consciousness, a series of freeze-frame mental images drenched in passion and joy and catharsis. Murray’s racket seemingly suspended in mid-air as he turned to the crowd to celebrate. Kim holding her head in wide-eyed disbelief. Judy crying on the shoulder of Leon Smith, the British Davis Cup captain, then almost finding herself overlooked when Murray failed to spot her after clambering into the players’ box. 

Eleven years on, Murray’s daughters Sophia and Edie, the two eldest of his four children, have a moment of their own to remember. This was their final, the moment when Wimbledon belonged to their father in a way it has rarely, if ever, belonged to anyone. Defeat notwithstanding, it was a perfect ending.

“I’m ready to finish playing,” said Murray. “I don’t want that to be the case, I would love to play forever. But like today, even though it was a doubles match where physically it’s not as demanding, it was still really hard for me. 

“This year’s been tough, with the ankle, the back surgery, obviously the hip. I’m ready to finish playing because I can’t play to the level that I would want to any more. That’s something that I guess is a bit out of my control. If I knew that my body was going to be able to do it, I would play.

“But I know that it’s time now, and I’m ready for that.”

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“It’s a great learning experience for me going forward,” Raducanu said in a television interview the following day. “Next time, hopefully, I’ll be better prepared.”

She was. 

The 21-year-old returned to the scene of her teenage ordeal on Wednesday an infinitely more composed and accomplished player, delivering an artful and assured performance to dismantle Belgium’s Elise Mertens 6-1, 6-2. 

Raducanu is now through to the third round of a major for the first time since her historic run to the 2021 US Open title, which came barely two months after her baptism of fire against Tomljanovic, and while it is far too soon to start imagining that she might mount a similar run at her home slam, she is playing with a quality and abandon that will inevitably evoke memories of her New York fairy tale.

Much has changed since that landmark victory, of course, the intervening years having brought a smorgasbord of injuries and coaching changes, not to mention surgery on both wrists and an ankle last summer. A string of lucrative commercial endorsements and high-profile social engagements led many to question her commitment to the game, and perhaps understandably there have been times when Raducanu appeared a shadow of her sunny 18-year-old self. Yet the megawatt smile that illuminated Flushing Meadows three summers ago is back on her face, and the joy has returned to her tennis. Raducanu is accentuating the positives. 

“I didn’t even think of that,” she said when reminded that she had not played on No 1 Court since facing Tomljanovic. “When I think of Court One, I just think of that amazing win against Sorana [Cirstea, who she defeated in the third round in 2021]. I think that was my first coming out into tennis society, if you would like to call it. 

“I just have such amazing memories from that court, and that match in particular. It was the first time playing on a court that size, the crowd, the environment, the feeling of adjusting at the start to playing on a court that big. So I only have good memories of playing on that court.”

She will have even better ones now. This was a far cry from Raducanu’s error-strewn win over Mexico’s Renata Zarazúa in the previous round, which she described as a case of “winning ugly”. Powerful and precise off the ground, inventive and resourceful in defence, Raducanu left Mertens dumbfounded with the quality of her ball-striking and her outstanding speed and agility. The Briton rattled through the opening five games, and although the 33rd-ranked Mertens rallied to hold from 0-40 down at the start of the second set, Raducanu broke at the next time of asking with a brilliant backhand pass. She would not relinquish her lead.

Raducanu will now face Maria Sakkari, the Greek ninth seed, whom she defeated in the US Open semi-finals in their only previous meeting.

“The circumstances are different in a third round compared to a semi-final,” said Raducanu. “At the time the dynamics were also different, I was an unknown player pretty much. 

“She’s top 10 in the world, so it’s going to be a really difficult one, but again one where I’m the complete underdog, and I can just enjoy playing in my home slam and just keep having fun and trying to stay an extra day.”

There will be more fun when Raducanu partners Andy Murray in the mixed doubles, an offer she received by text message on Tuesday evening.

“For me, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Raducanu. “I think some things are bigger than just tennis. I think some things are a once-in-a-lifetime memory that you’re going to have for the rest of your life. To play at Wimbledon with Andy Murray, those things don’t come by.  

“At the end of my life, at the end of my career when I’m like 70 years old, I know I’m going to have that memory of playing Wimbledon with Andy Murray on a home slam.”  

The British pair will play their opener against Marcelo Arévalo of El Salvador and China’s Shuai Zhang later this week. 

The post Raducanu storms past Mertens at Wimbledon appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

The biggest casualty came early. Shortly after cutting short a morning practice session, Aryna Sabalenka, seeded third and twice a semi-finalist at the All England Club, withdrew from the tournament with a shoulder injury. The 26-year-old subsequently took to social media to say she was “heartbroken” to have to pull out of her scheduled first-round match against Emina Bektas of the United States.

“I tried everything to get myself ready but unfortunately my shoulder is not co-operating,” wrote Sabalenka. “I pushed myself to the limit in practice today to try my best, but my team explained that playing would only make things much worse.”

Sabalenka, who also withdrew from her quarter-final match at last month’s Berlin Open with shoulder pain, spoke openly of her physical struggles before the tournament, yet that did little to mitigate the sense of shock surrounding her withdrawal. With the likes of Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray all but clambering off the operating table and straight on to the practice courts in recent weeks, we have become inured to top players defying medical probability. But not every physical issue can be surmounted, and Sabalenka’s injury – to the teres major, a small but important muscle that runs under the shoulder joint and controls abduction and internal rotation – has caused her pain on her service, the bedrock of her game. Her frustration has been magnified by the fact that she can perform other movements without pain.

“The most annoying thing is that I can do anything, I can practise, I can hit my groundstrokes, but I’m struggling with serving, so that’s really annoying,” Sabalenka said at the weekend. 

“You don’t feel like you are injured, you know. If you give me some weights, I’m going to go and lift some weights. But if you tell me to serve, I’m going to go through pain.”

Sabalenka’s absence will be keenly felt, particularly with four of the world’s top six in the upper half of the draw. Coco Gauff, seeded second, was originally expected to face the two-time Australian Open championin the semi-finals. The American has never been beyond the fourth round, but made a winning start against Caroline Dolehide, dismissing her compatriot 6-2, 6-1 to erase the memory of last year’s first-round exit to Sofia Kenin. Gauff is not getting ahead of herself following Sabalenka’s withdrawal.

“I wouldn’t have probably played her till the semis,” said Gauff. “At that point, it’s just like, ‘This is the semi-finals of a grand slam.’ No matter who you play, it’s going to be a tough person to play. 

“But it is unfortunate that she had to pull out. She’s always a contender in every slam and [on] every surface. She’s such a competitor.”

Sabalenka was swiftly followed out of the tournament by another Belarusian nursing a shoulder injury. Victoria Azarenka, seeded 16th and also a two-time semi-finalist in SW19, had been scheduled to face Sloane Stephens in a battle of former major winners, but was likewise forced to withdraw. Stephens, the 2017 US Open champion, despatched Azarenka’s replacement, French lucky loser Elsa Jacquemot, 6-3, 6-3.

That left Karolina Pliskova, a finalist in 2021, as the only remaining player in the bottom half of the draw with experience of the latter stages. However, the 32-year-old Czech was beaten 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 by Diana Shnaider, the recently crowned Bad Homburg champion. If that deepened an already palpable sense of opportunity, the door was pushed further ajar when Lulu Sun, a 23-old-qualifier ranked 123 in the world, defeated Qinwen Zheng, the Chinese world No 8. The New Zealander defeated Zheng, who was seeded to meet Sabalenka in the quarter-finals in a repeat of this year’s Australian Open final, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Among those hoping to capitalise on Zheng’s loss will be Emma Raducanu, the former US Open champion, who was beneficiary of yet another late withdrawal. Originally expected to face Ekaterina Alexandrova, the 22nd seed, Raducanu instead found herself up against Mexico’s Renata Zarzua, a lucky loser ranked 98 in the world. The British wild card, ranked 135, prevailed 7-6 (7-0), 6-3 and will next face Elise Mertens of Belgium, the world’s best doubles player, who came from behind to see off Japan’s Nao Hibino 2-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Should Raducanu advance to the third round, she could meet Maria Sakkari, the Greek ninth seed, who navigated the opening round of a major for only the second time in six attempts with a 6-3, 6-1 win over McCartney Kessler of the United States. 

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Raducanu, who will also have procedures on her left hand and ankle, posted a picture of herself laying in a hospital bed with her fingers protruding from a chunky bandage.

The British 20-year-old is unlikely to return to action until September, almost certainly ruling her out of the US Open, where she became the first qualifier in history to win a grand slam title in 2021. 

“It is safe to say the last 10 months have been difficult as I dealt with a recurring injury on a bone of both hands,” Raducanu wrote on social media.  

“I tried my best to manage the pain and play through it for most of this year and end of last year by reducing practice load dramatically, missing weeks of training as well as cutting last season short to try [to] heal it. Unfortunately, it’s not enough.”

Raducanu, who withdrew from the Madrid Open last week just hours before her first match, has been plagued by injury problems since her fairytale run in New York. Last year, she struggled with a blistered hand at the Australian Open, pulled out against Daria Gavrilova in Mexico with a hip injury, retired with a sore back in Rome, and suffered a strained abdominal in Nottingham. A glute injury forced her to return in Seoul before a wrist problem forced her to call time on her season.

This year, Raducanu suffered an ankle injury in Auckland and has reportedly experienced pain from bone growths on the back of her hands, problems which her surgeries are expected to remedy. Having withdrawn from Madrid, Raducanu will drop out of the top 100 next week. 

“It pains me that I will miss the summer events and I tried to downplay the issues, so I thank all my fans who continued to support me when you did not know the facts,” wrote Raducanu.

While Raducanu will hardly relish going under the knife at such an early stage in her career, the hope must be that she can now put her injury woes behind her once and for all rather than trying to “manage” the various ailments that have undermined her progress.

The post Raducanu to miss Wimbledon after hand surgery appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

The news, announced by the tournament on social media on Wednesday morning, offers some context to Raducanu’s unforthcoming performance at a press conference the previous day, when she offered reporters just 58 words in response to 16 questions.

It is understood that the former US Open champion is suffering from another flare-up of the wrist injury that has troubled her since late last season, and which recurred last month in Indian Wells, where she nonetheless advanced to the last 16 before losing to world No 1 Iga Swiatek. 

Raducanu has suffered first-round defeats to Bianca Andreescu in Miami and Jelena Ostapenko in Stuttgart since then, and the 20-year-old needed a good showing in Madrid to protect the 120 ranking points she earned for reaching the third round last year. Victory over Tomova would have preserved her top-100 status for the time being and allowed her to advance to a second-round meeting with Swiatek. Instead, Raducanu will now fall from her current position of 85th to at least 101 when the next ranking list is published.

The British No 1 gave little away when asked about her wrist on the eve of the event. “It’s OK,” she said, before adding: “We’re managing it,” in reply to a follow-up question.

Raducanu’s pre-tournament media duties ended abruptly after less than three minutes when a WTA media official stepped in. “Let’s just leave it there,” said the moderator after Raducanu offered a terse denial when asked if she was being intentionally unobliging. 

Raducanu is next scheduled to compete in Rome next month, where she would need to acquire points in order to avoid needing a wild card to enter Wimbledon. 

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What promised to be an intriguing meeting of two former grand slam champions rapidly developed into an execution. Free-swinging and fearless, Ostapenko rifled a backhand return to secure an early break and never looked back, overwhelming Raducanu with the power and quality of her ball-striking as she fired 26 winners off the ground. While Raducanu gathered a meagre nine points against serve, Ostapenko was ruthless off the return, treating Raducanu’s second serve with disdain as she fashioned five break points and converted each of them.

“I felt like I was playing really well today and played very aggressive,” said Ostapenko, who will face a sterner examination in the next round against Ons Jabeur, the third seed. “I didn’t give her many chances to really play her game.”

A quarter-finalist in Stuttgart last year, Raducanu, who will now fall to 83 in the rankings, looked as short on quality as she did on confidence, perhaps understandably given that this was her first match since she was beaten by Bianca Andreescu in the first round of the Miami Open almost a month ago. About the only positive she can draw from her first clay-court outing of the season is that she showed no obvious sign of the recurring wrist problem she has been managing since late last year  – although, with points to defend next week at the Madrid Open, the blow to her self-esteem from such a resounding defeat may prove no less injurious. 

That said, it should not be forgotten that, facing Iga Swiatek on the same court this time last year, Raducanu gave a decent account of herself. The manner in which she was blown away this time around, at one point losing 16 successive points as Ostapenko compiled a 4-1 second-set lead, is indicative of how well the Latvian performed on the day. 

“I knew against her the main thing was to step in the court, and of course I missed some balls, but I was trying to be aggressive all the time when it was possible,” said Ostapenko in her on-court interview. “I just tried to take the ball early and not give her many chances. I think it worked pretty well and, finally, I’m back on clay on my favourite surface.

“I felt like I was stepping back a little bit too much in the years when I wasn’t playing well,” added Ostapenko, who has advanced beyond the second round at Roland Garros just once in five attempts since her title win in 2017. “When I step in the court and play fearless like at the French Open and try to hit winners – of course not crazy, but play a bit smarter – that’s what works well.” 

In the lower half of the draw, Paula Badosa  brushed aside Daria Kasatkina, the Russian seventh seed, for the loss of just two games. 

“It was a pretty big performance from my side, I think I played very well,” said Badosa following her 6-1, 6-1 victory. “I was expecting a very tough match, I know she’s a top player and we always have battles, but I’m really happy about my level today.”

Badosa, the world No 31, will face Cristina Bucșa, a fellow Spaniard, in the next round.

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Having stormed through the opening set before fatally taking her foot off the gas in the second, Raducanu fought tooth and nail down the stretch, her determination epitomised by an extraordinary rally that, in the face of some brilliant retrieving by Haddad Maia, she finally won with her fifth overhead. 

There are few more ferocious competitors in the women’s game than Haddad Maia and, as an absorbing duel drew to a climax, the bellicose Brazilian world No 13 threw everything at Raducanu, firing down her heavy southpaw serve with renewed venom, crushing forehands, chasing every lost cause. 

But Raducanu stuck doggedly to the task, stepping inside the baseline to pressure her opponent’s serve and reaping the reward for her boldness and sweet ball-striking in the seventh game, where Haddad Maia overcooked a forehand after Raducanu had angled away a backhand volley to set up a break point. That set the scene for further drama as the 26-year-old defiantly staved off three match points, before an emotional Raducanu finally sealed victory.

“It was a battle from both of us,” said Raducanu after notching up a third straight win at the same event for only the second time since her victory at the US Open in 2021. 

“I think I did a really good job mentally of just staying – hitting through the shots and trying to commit to everything, even when it was tight, even when you’re just [hoping] the opponent misses, because at this level, they don’t.

“I think my first match point she hit the back of the line, and I was half praying the ball was going to go out, but it didn’t. Then she put the next ball away.

“I’m really pleased to have come through.”

Haddad Maia, voted the most improved player on the WTA Tour last year, when she claimed grass-court titles in Nottingham and Birmingham and defeated Iga Swiatek in Toronto, is the highest-ranked player Raducanu has beaten since her title run at Flushing Meadows. It is also only the second time the British No 1 has won three matches in a row at the same tournament since then. Having beaten Australian Open semi-finalist Magda Linette in the previous round, Raducanu has put the fitness concerns that plagued her in the build-up to the tournament well and truly behind her. 

“Physically, I actually feel pretty good,” said Raducanu, who arrived in California still recovering from tonsilitis and recently suffered a recurrence of last year’s wrist injury. 

“I have been managing my wrists, obviously. But that’s something that I’m continuing to manage, and I’m doing everything off the court to try and make them in the best possible place to compete. So far we are on top of it.”

She will need to remain so. In her first appearance in the last 16 of WTA 1000 event, Raducanu will face Iga Swiatek, the world No 1, who came through a tough battle agaist former champion Bianca Andreescu 6-3, 7-6 (7-1).

“It was a really tight match, and I’m really happy that I actually played such a tight match, because now I see how I can handle those situations after couple of matches that were kind of one way,” said Swiatek, who has yet to play a three-set match this season. 

“I think we both played well. I’m happy that in those important moments I was the one that was more solid.”

Swiatek was also the more solid player on the one previous occasion she has faced Raducanu. That came on the clay courts of Stuttgart last year, when the Briton gave a decent account of herself in her first meeting with a top-10 player as Swiatek prevailed 6-4, 6-4. The Pole said the differing conditions and the fact that almost a year has elapsed since then meant the match would have little bearing on the outcome this time around.  

“After Stuttgart, I just know how her shots feel on the racquet, because before I hadn’t even practised with her,” said Swiatek. “So it helps that way.

“But on the other hand, we are playing on a hard court, and there was clay – but actually, this surface is slower. So I think I have to really take care of the tactics.”

Ons Jabeur, the fourth seed, suffered her second defeat of the year to Marketa Vondrousova, the 79th-ranked Czech and former French Open finalist. Vondrousova, who defeated Jabeur in the second round of the Australian Open, survived a late rally from the Tunisian to win 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.

The post Raducanu battles past Haddad Maia in Indian Wells appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

It is only a fortnight since Raducanu was forced to pull out of a tournament in Texas after contracting tonsilitis, a setback from which was still reeling when the wrist injury that hampered her towards the end of last season returned. Those latest unwelcome additions to the extensive catalogue of injuries and ailments from which the world No 77 has suffered since her victory at Flushing Meadows hardly augured well for her appearance at Indian Wells. Yet, having coughed and spluttered her way past Montenegro’s Danka Kovinic in the opening round, the 20-year-old can now point to palpable evidence of progress.

With her steely win over Linette, the Polish world No 21 who reached the semi-finals of this year’s Australian Open, Raducanu achieved her best victory by ranking since she defeated Maria Sakkari in the last four of the US Open. It was also the first time she has won two matches in a row since she made the last four at the Korea Open almost six months ago. More important than any statistical milestone, however, was the tenacious manner of the win. 

Regularly shaking off her wrist between points, Raducanu was in obvious discomfort as she lost four of the first five games. It did not help that Linette, a player whose consistency, athleticism and defensive skills typically ensure that every point must be earned, was barely putting a foot wrong. Gradually, though, Raducanu began to adapt to the nature of the challenge, abandoning her initial policy of all-out aggression in favour of a more measured approached. As she applied more shape to her shots, driving Linette off the baseline with heavy topspin and biding her time in the rallies, the Pole’s assurance began to wane.

No Raducanu match would be complete without a visit from the trainer, and here it came immediately after Raducanu had broken to lead 6-5. It was an inopportune moment to stop for a medical timeout, and the Briton wisely declined that offer, electing instead to soldier on after taking a painkiller. She was immediately broken to love but, with Linette increasingly struggling to find the court, Raducanu rattled through the tiebreak and did not look back.

“I feel more positive about my game today,” said Raducanu, who showed no sign of the coughing and laboured breathing that affected her in her opening match. 

“The first day [against Kovinic] I didn’t really know what was going on. Today I felt pretty decent out there, especially with the conditions. It was really windy. I did well to overcome it.”

Raducanu declined to elaborate on the nature of her wrist problem, saying only that she was “managing it”. Nor did she show any inclination to bemoan her run of bad luck with injuries and illness.

“Sometimes you wonder, you think, how is this possible?” she mused. “But I think you create your own luck. It works both ways. I won the US Open as well, and I think I also have to take the bad luck sometimes, because good fortune has also come upon me. 

“I wouldn’t trade that title for the world. I’m just prepared to take whatever it takes, knowing that I have that in the bank.”

What Anne Keothavong, Britain’s Billie Jean King Cup captain, would give to know that she has Raducanu in the bank for next month’s qualifying clash against France. Asked after her match against Kovinic whether she would be playing, the British No 1 said she hadn’t thought about but would decide once she knew the dates. That drew a bemused response from Keothavong, who wrote on social media: “My communication skills are generally good in case anyone was wondering.”

Raducanu is scheduled to play at the Stuttgart Open, which starts on 15 April and is backed by Porsche, one of her chief sponsors. Britain face France in Coventry on 14 and 15 April.

While Raducanu advances to a third-round meeting with Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia, the 13th seed, two-time champion Victoria Azarenka is out. Azarenka, seeded 14th, was beaten 7-6 (7-1), 6-3 by Karolina Muchova, whose commitment to attack and superior handling of the gusty conditions proved decisive. 

Azarenka’s exit promises to ease the progress of Ons Jabeur through the second quarter of the draw. Jabeur, the fourth seed, marked her return from knee surgery with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory over Poland’s Magdalena Frech.

French, who made it into the main draw as a lucky loser, made the most of an error-strewn start by the Tunisian, taking a set off a top-10 player for the first time. But Jabeur gradually found her range, forcing a break in the ninth game of the second set behind some heavy forehands, serving out to level the contest and then easing through the decider. The 28-year-old, who revealed afterwards that her knee is no more than “80%, getting there”, said she had nothing to lose in the next round against Marketa Vondrousova, who consigned her to an early defeat at the Australian Open a couple of months ago.   

“It’s a tough decision to come back, and I was the one that insisted that I come back in Indian Wells and Miami,” said Jabeur. “It was probably too early to come back, but I just made it a new challenge for myself.

“I did regret it after the first set. But then, you know, I just told myself to accept what’s happening, to fight through it, and to just see how it goes. I’m sure it will get better and better every match.”

Iga Swiatek, the top seed, will be hard pushed to achieve that after opening her title defence with a blistering performance. Swiatek swept past Claire Liu, the American world No 56, 6-1, 60 to book a third-round appointment with Bianca Andreescu, the 32nd seed and former US Open champion.

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Gifted, engaging and young – Gauff is still a teenager, Raducanu just weeks into her twenties – both are the stuff of marketing dreams. Better yet, each covets what the other has, lending their rivalry a certain frisson even at this early stage. Raducanu, who came through qualifying to win the US Open only three months after leaving school, has a grand slam title but, paradoxically, lacks experience. Gauff, who first announced herself to the world by making the fourth round of Wimbledon as a 15-year-old, has packed plenty into her short career, but has yet to land a major. In time, both will surely fill those gaps.

Yet the pair do not have a monopoly on youth. Iga Swiatek, the undisputed world No 1, is only a year older than Raducanu. Bianca Andreescu and Sofia Kenin, both grand slam champions, are still under 25, as is Aryna Sabalenka, for whom a grand slam breakthrough feels ever closer. China’s Qinwen Zheng, 20, looks destined for great things, while Linda Novoska and Linda Fruhvirtova, both 17, head a talented generation of rising young stars from the Czech Republic. 

What singles out Gauff and Raducanu as special is not merely youth, but what they have achieved at such a young age. Raducanu is a grand slam champion. Gauff has three titles, reached her first major final at Roland Garros last year, and has been ranked as high as fourth in the world. The pair are not just the future of the women’s game, but also the here and now. 

Handed the primetime slot on Rod Laver Arena, they demonstrated as much, shaking off a slow start to stage a lively contest that pitted the strength and precision of Raducanu’s ball-striking against Gauff’s outstanding movement and defensive prowess. 

That the American eventually prevailed 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) owed much to the mental strength she showed when, having led by a set and a break, she was belatedly drawn into a dogfight as her forehand, relentlessly targeted by Raducanu, began to break down. 

Gauff’s victory was also down to her ability to navigate the crisis that arrived when the British No 1 held two set points against her serve at 5-4. On both occasions, the teenager kept the ball in play just long enough for Raducanu to miss, first when a backhand flew long and then with a fractionally under-hit drop shot.

“She is a great mover, great athlete,” acknowledged Raducanu. “Puts another ball in play, so you feel like you have to squeeze it closer to the line, and then she kind of teases errors out of you that way.”

That Raducanu came so close to forcing a decider against a top-10 player is a tribute to the recovery work she put in after spraining an ankle in Auckland 11 days before the tournament. 

“With what I had, to be in the draw right now is a massive effort and achievement,” said Raducanu. “I would say all the chips were against us, and the chances of me playing this tournament were very, very low. I had extremely limited practice time.

“I still think I didn’t necessarily play my best today. Although in the second set I had chances and was pushing, I felt like I could have done better myself.

“I’d really like to play her again. I think that maybe with more than five hours under my belt of practice.”

It was nonetheless an accomplished and mature display from Gauff, whose growing ability to hold her nerve in the crunch moments speaks volumes for her progress.  

“I think I did a good job not freaking out on my serve,” said Gauff, who will play Bernarda Pera in round three. “After I got broken, I needed to hold at 4-5. Honestly one of those set points definitely had the ball on her racquet with the drop shot. I got a little bit lucky there.

“But for the most part I think I stayed calm when I needed to and made the serve when I needed to, held when I needed to. I think that definitely comes with maturity. I feel like in the past I would have freaked out in that moment.”

Maria Sakkari earlier survived a testy encounter with Russian qualifier Diana Shnaider, a feisty, free-swinging southpaw who took the opening set and then raised the hackles of the Greek sixth seed with her overexuberant celebrations.

Things came to a head late in the second set after Shnaider, pumping her fist and repeatedly roaring in triumph, saved three set points to hold for 5-5. Wagging her finger in reproof, Sakkari approached the chair umpire, Christian Rask, and told him: “If she screams one more time in my face, I’m going to call the referee.” It proved a tipping point in the contest, Sakkari conceding only three more games as she closed out a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory.

“During a match you can be very pumped,” said Sakkari. “The way that some players celebrate their points, it’s not appropriate. I wasn’t happy with that. But, you know, she never did it again. That was very nice of her.”

There were no such difficulties for Iga Swiatek, the Polish top seed resisting a late fightback from Colombia’s Camila Osorio to seal a 6-1, 6-3 victory. Jessica Pegula also advanced in straight sets, claiming a 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) win over Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus.

Elsewhere, though, it was a torrid day for some of the big names in the women’s draw. Daria Kasatkina, the world No 8, suffered a 6-1, 6-1 defeat at the hands of fellow Russian Varvara Gracheva, while former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, seeded 15th, was beaten 7-5, 6-4 by Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine.

Spain’s Cristina Bucsa secured a 2-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-4 win over Bianca Andreescu, putting paid to hopes of a third-round meeting between the former US Open champion and Swiatek, while Sloane Stephens, another former winner at Flushing Meadows, fell 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 to Russia’s Anastasia Potapova.

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Swiatek’s preparations for the season’s first grand slam have been far from straightforward. An emphatic United Cup defeat against Jessica Pegula 12 days ago was followed by concern over a shoulder injury that convinced the 21-year-old to skip a warm-up event in Adelaide. The prospect of a tough opener against the 69th-ranked Niemeier, who led by a set and a break when the pair locked horns in the fourth round of the US Open last September, only compounded the feeling that Swiatek might be more vulnerable than the oddsmakers would have us believe.

“For sure I feel the expectations, that people kind of take for granted that I’m going to win those first rounds,” said Swiatek. “It’s not always easy. Every match is a different story. You have to really work hard to [get] it done, to win. I just feel like they’re taking it for granted a little bit. There’s no reason to do that, honestly. I know I had streak last year, and I was consistent, [but] as I said, every match is a different story, every season is different.

“People are really focused on the numbers and statistics,” added Swiatek, whose achievements last year included victories at Roland Garros and Flushing Meadows and a 37-match winning streak. “It just feels like sometimes they’re not treating you as a human, but more like a robot who has to win.” 

Swiatek offered an insight into her state of mind before the match when she sought confirmation from the chair umpire that the final set would be decided by a 10-point tiebreak. Clearly she was not ruling out the possibility of being taken the distance by Niemeier for a second time, and a tentative start suggested her caution was justified. 

Having survived two break points in the seventh game, Swiatek secured a break of her own in the 10th to take the set. Yet her performance was never wholly convincing. An uncharacteristically high tally of 14 unforced errors in the first set was indicative of Swiatek’s anxiety to stay on the front foot in the face of Niemeier’s heavy serving and willingness to take on her groundstrokes. The pressure finally told in the opening game of the second set, where the German broke with a pair of devastating forehand returns, establishing a lead she would maintain all the way to 5-3. At that point, however, Swiatek found another gear, reeling off the final four games to book a second-round meeting with Colombia’s Camila Osorio. 

“My goal for the next matches is not being in those situations and not starting the set with losing a break,” said Swiatek, who could face former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu, a 6-2, 6-4 winner over 25th seed Marie Bouzkova, in round three. 

“But it happens. I’m happy that I was able to come back. It wasn’t like I needed to really change a lot. I just needed to have more intensity.”

There was plenty of intensity from Pegula, the third seed, who stormed through her opener against Jaqueline Cristian in 59 minutes, conceding just one game. Pegula’s impressive win marked the start of an encouraging day’s work for the American contingent. Coco Gauff, the seventh seed, survived a spirited second-set showing by Katerina Siniakova to seal a 6-1, 6-4 victory, while Danielle Collins, the runner-up to Ashleigh Barty last year, fought her way past Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya 7-5, 5-7, 6-4. Madison Keys, seeded 10th and twice a semi-finalist at Melbourne Park, also survived a scare against Russian opposition, prevailing 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 over Anna Blinkova.

Up next for Gauff is Emma Raducanu, the former US Open champion, who marked her return from the sprained ankle that prompted a tearful withdrawal in Auckland last week with an accomplished 6-3, 6-2 win over Germany’s Tamara Korpatsch.

“I’m very up for it,” said Raducanu of the prospect of a first meeting with Gauff. “Coco has obviously done a lot of great things, and she’s playing well. I’m just looking forward to the match-up.

“I think we’re both good, young players, we’re both coming through. Part of the next generation of tennis, really. It’s going to be a great match.”

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