Emma Raducanu praised for ‘showing resilience and competitive spirit’
Emma Raducanu had two former British No 1 players “a little worried” early on during her opening match at the Australian Open, but once she got going “she went from strength to strength”.
World No 29 Raducanu’s build-up to the hard-court Grand Slam has been far from ideal as she played only one match at the United Cup due to a foot injury, going down in straight sets against Maria Sakkari.
She then reached the quarter-final of the Hobart International before she was upset by wildcard and world No 201 Taylah Preston.
Seeded 28th at Melbourne Park, Raducanu took on Mananchaya Sawangkaew, who started the tournament at No 195 in the WTA Rankings, in the first round and despite her lowly ranking, the Thai player made her opponent work early on.
Sawangkaew opened a 3-1 lead in the first set on the back of a break in game two, but the 2021 US Open winner finally hit her stride and broke twice late on to go one-set up before racing away in the second set for a 6-4, 6-1 victory.
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Former world No 4 Tim Henman was pleased with Raducanu’s ability to turn things around.
“In all honesty, her preparation hasn’t been ideal. She’s been battling a foot problem which hopefully she’s over,” he told TNT Sport.
“She was at the United Cup then out in Hobart before she came over here. Then the schedule came out and she was playing the second night match.
“There were so many variables and [she] was down a break early in the first set. But she showed resilience and competitive spirit to turn it around.
“Once she got the first set under her belt, she went from strength to strength.”
Meanwhile, Great Britain’s Billie Jean King Cup captain Anne Keothavong was not only delighted for Raducanu, but also impressed with Sawangkaew, who was playing in her first Grand Slam main draw match.
“She played some fantastic tennis once she got going, but I have to admit I was slightly worried after the first few games,” she said.
“And credit to her opponent who came out with a big smile on her face, for someone who’d never played on a show court, making her Grand Slam debut, she really took it to Emma, she just seemed to embrace the occasion and really went for her shots.
“But after 4-2 down 15-40 down something clicked Emma worked really hard to work on her serve and take it to 4-3. And up until that point she hadn’t won a single point behind her opponent’s first serve. After that Emma got on top and there was only going to be one winner.”
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