The Times - UK (2022-01-19)

66 Wednesday January 19 2022 | the times

SportAustralian Open

Raducanu in dream mode

level terms at 2-2 but Stephens quickly

pulled ahead again with a second break

and she did not drop another game in

the set.

Remarkably, it meant that Raducanu,

after 14 previous matches at this level,

faced the experience of a deciding set

at a grand-slam event for the first

time.

Under this pressure, Raducanu

stepped up admirably to the challenge.

She dropped only one game from here

and showed few signs of any nerves,

clinching the match on her serve at the

first time of asking. Danka Kovinic, the

world No 98 from Montenegro, awaits

in the second round tomorrow.

“I think 2022 is all about learning for

me,” Raducanu said. “Being in those

situations of winning a set and then

having to fight in a decider is definitely

all just accumulating into a bank of

experience that I can tap into later on

down the line. I am very happy that

today I can add to that.

“It was a tough match-up for the first

round. Her athleticism is really up

there. I was having to work extremely

hard for the points.

“Both me and Sloane really put

everything out there and gave it all we

had. It was a really high-quality match

with some long rallies. I am really

happy to come through against such a

great champion like her.”

It will do Raducanu no harm to

have burnt the midnight oil. This

tournament is renowned for its late

finishes, so this is another element

that the teenager will have to get

accustomed to after playing only one

night match before, in the US Open

semi-finals last year. She did not

conclude her media duties until 1.30am.

“It’s way past my bedtime right now,”

Raducanu said. “It’s something I’m also

learning about myself and what works

for me, dealing with those late finishes

and the night matches and maybe not

being able to get to sleep as early

because of the adrenaline you’re run-

ning on. It will be a good experience

learning from that.”

Heather Watson is also through after

claiming only her second win on the

tour since last summer’s grass-court

season. The British No 2, who is peril-

ously close to dropping out of the

world’s top 100 at No 94, prevailed 6-3,

5-7, 6-2 against Egypt’s Mayar Sherif.

She plays Tamara Zidansek, the world

No 29 from Slovenia, next.

“I’m really happy to get through this

one because the last couple of years

have not been good for me,” Watson, 29,

said. “I had a great pre-season in

Florida and I found my love and joy for

tennis and competing again.

“I feel like in the last couple of years

I felt really anxious before matches, just

really not even wanting to go out there,

Not hanging around

Emma Raducanu started and finished strongly on her

Australian Open debut against Sloane Stephens

Total points won

(24/28)

(27/63)

(28/47)

First serve points won

(11/11)

(14/26)

(12/19)

Second serve points won

(1/2)

(4/13)

(7/11)

Break points won

(3/3)

(1/3)

(2/2)

Break points faced

0

0

8

86%

60%

43%

8

100%

63%

54%

Set 1

Set 2

Set 3

50%

31%

64%

Unforced errors

2

9

19

100%

100%

33%

next 11 games to go down 6-3, 6-0 in

72 minutes. “Of course to play such a

champion on a big court, these are the

matches you do play tennis for,” Dart

said. “At the same time it would be nice

Spain latest

The challenges facing Novak Djokovic

continue to mount after the Spanish

government advised him to get vacci-

nated against Covid-19 if he wants to

compete there.

On Monday the French government

confirmed that the new vaccination

pass would be mandatory for inter-

national athletes, which would prevent

the men’s world No 1 from taking part at

Roland Garros in May.

That would be the second consecu-

tive grand-slam event to exclude Djok-

ovic after his Australian visa was

rejected and he was deported from

Melbourne “on health and good order

grounds” for his anti-vaccination

stance.

Now Spain has joined in by suggest-

but trying to get over it because I know

in sport there’s always ups and downs.

Today I was excited to play. I couldn’t

wait to get out on the court.”

Harriet Dart raced out of the blocks

on the main Rod Laver Arena by taking

a 3-1 lead against the world No 9 and

former French Open champion Iga

Swiatek, but this was as good as it got

for the British qualifier. She lost the

On one of the four biggest stages in
tennis Emma Raducanu rose to the
occasion again. Playing her first match
at a grand-slam tournament since
becoming the US Open champion four
months ago, the 19-year-old Briton
cleared a tricky first hurdle at the
Australian Open.
Seeded No 17, Raducanu had not
been given a kind draw against a fellow
major winner in Sloane Stephens, the
28-year-old American who triumphed
at Flushing Meadows in 2017. But in a
fluctuating contest that finished close
to midnight on the Margaret Court
Arena, the second show court at Melb-
ourne Park, Raducanu’s aggressive
game style proved the difference in a
6-0, 2-6, 6-1 win.
This serves as a much-needed confi-
dence boost after the considerable
disruption to Raducanu’s pre-season
preparations. A bout of Covid-19 last
month meant that she did not step on a
court for 20 days, and she looked well
off the pace in her only warm-up match
in Sydney last week when she lost 6-0,
6-1 to Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina. At
the end of her one hour and 45 minutes
on the court here, the elation was
evident as she dropped her racket to the
ground and held her hands over her
face in delight.
“It was just a sense of pride,” Raduca-
nu said. “I had some adversity with
having Covid and then [the disappoint-
ing result] last week, so I was just so
proud to turn it around so fast. I think of
my level just seven days ago and it was
not good before the match in
Sydney. Today I was actually pretty
pleased with it.”
This had been described beforehand
as “the most interesting first-round
match” by the great Chris Evert, but the
early stages were not at all competitive.
Hitting clean ground strokes with
power and depth, Raducanu raced to
the opening set in 17 minutes, dropping
only four points.
It was understandable that Stephens
was not firing on all cylinders, given
that this was her first match of the
season after taking time off for her
marriage to the former Sunderland
footballer Jozy Altidore on New Year’s
Day. But she started to shake off some
of the rust in the second set, converting
her fifth break point in the opening
game after Raducanu had committed
back-to-back double faults.
Raducanu managed to get back on

N

ick Kyrgios was

in typical form

mixing the

brilliant and the

bizarre as he beat

Britain’s Liam Broady

6-4, 6-4, 6-3. Kyrgios,

who tested positive for

Covid last week, won

one point with an

underarm serve,

kicked a ball into the

crowd and after his

victory took a sip of

beer out of a fan’s

plastic cup. In among

the tricks, Kyrgios, 26,

played some impressive

tennis to set up a

meeting with Daniil

Medvedev, the world

No 2 and tournament

favourite. “When I

tested positive, it wasn’t

great news and I had

some doubts,” the

world No 115 said. “The

last week has been

really tough but I was

lucky enough to have a

tennis court and hit

some serves. I served

f***ing well today.”

Kyrgios

beats Broady

... and then

drinks beer

p

n

th

R t o r M g s

Kyrgios shows off his

tricks and kicks

before enjoying a

fan’s beverage, right

DAVE HUNT/EPA

Stuart Fraser

Tennis Correspondent,
Melbourne

E Raducanu (GB, No 17) 626

S Stephens (US) 06 1

Australian

Open:

second round

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