Emma Raducanu of Britain receives treatment. (AP Photo) US Open champion Emma Raducanu has lost 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 to Danka Kovinic in the second round of the Australian Open.
Raducanu won the U.S. Open as a qualifier last September in just her second main draw appearance at a major.
The 19-year-old Raducanu entered the Australian Open as the 17th seed and beat 2017 US Open champion, Sloane Stephens, in the first round.
But after going up a double break early, Raducanu had treatment for what appeared to be blisters on her right hand and then dropped four of the next five games to lose the set.
She rallied to level the match in the second but again needed treatment on her hand before the third set.
No. 98-ranked Kovinic had two match points on serve and, after Raducanu saved one with a big forehand winner, closed it out with a backhand winner down the line to reach the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.
World No 3 Muguruza bows out, Swiatek advances
The surprises started early at the Australian Open on Thursday. No 3 seed Garbiñe Muguruza became the highest-seeded player to exit at Melbourne Park, just minutes after No 6 Anett Kontaveit lost.
Soak it up 👏
In her 60th consecutive major, @alizecornet completes the biggest upset of the tournament so far. #AusOpen · #AO2022 pic.twitter.com/FyNpJdErij
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 20, 2022
Muguruza never managed to earn a single break point and made a whopping 33 unforced errors, more than twice her opponent’s total, in a 6-3 6-3 defeat against Alize Cornet in the second round under a bright blue and cloudless sky at Rod Laver Arena.
“A little bit surprised about my level. I am a little disappointed, too,” said Muguruza, who won the season-ending WTA Finals in 2021.
“I feel like my shots weren’t as accurate and precise. I feel, also, my aggressive game wasn’t that aggressive today.” Here’s how unexpected that result was: Muguruza is a two-time Grand Slam champion and a two-time major runner-up, too, including making it to the final at the Australian Open in 2020.
And the 61st-ranked Cornet? She’s appearing in her 63rd career major tournament — and 60th in a row — but never has been beyond the fourth round.
Cornet will get a chance to equal that showing when she plays Saturday on what will be the Frenchwoman’s 32nd birthday.
She called herself “a little bit (of) a dinosaur.” “I don’t know how many years I have left,” Cornet said.
“Today was a perfect gift I could give myself and I really hope the journey’s going to go even farther for me.” Muguruza said she didn’t feel at her best physically and noted that the start of this season was “kind of stressful,” because COVID-19 spread through her support team and she was apart from them for two weeks.
Kontaveit, who lost to Muguruza in the title match at the WTA Finals, was beaten 6-2 6-3 by 19-year-old Clara Tauson of Denmark.
“I just went in there believing I could win, but it wasn’t like I have to win,” said Tauson, who will make her debut in the third round at a major against 2019 Australian Open semifinalist Danielle Collins. “It was more: I can win, but we’ll see what happens.'”
Other women advancing included No 7 Iga Swiatek, the 2020 French Open champion, who defeated Rebecca Peterson 6-2 6-2, and No 31 Marketa Vondrousova, the 2019 runner-up at Roland Garros, who beat Liudmila Samsonova 6-2 7-5.
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