Emma Raducanu reached the third round of the Australian Open for the first time in her career with a tenacious victory over her American opponent Amanda Anisimova.
The 22-year-old Briton won 6-3, 7-5 after coming back from breaks in each set.
Raducanu, ranked 61st in the world, will next face Polish second seed Iga Swiatek.
The 2021 US Open champion’s preparations for the first Grand Slam of the season were hampered by a back injury and she needed treatment twice during the second round match.
But she managed to find a way to beat Anisimova, a friend who is ranked 35th, in a fight in which there were 13 breaks of serve.
“Passing the second round means a lot to me,” Raducanu said.
“I was able to overcome some pain.”
After the match, Raducanu said that he got along well with Andy Murray after his Wimbledon mixed doubles withdrawal before his retirement last year.
On Saturday he will play five-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek in the round of 32.
Swiatek, who has never made it past the semifinals in Melbourne, beat Slovak Rebecca Sramkova 6-0, 6-1 in one hour.
How Raducanu battled injury to beat Anisimova
Having withdrawn from her season-opening event in Auckland after suffering a back spasm, Raducanu had not played since mid-November, before her first-round victory over Ekaterina Alexandrova.
Raducanu struggled on her second serve against the 26th-ranked Russian, committing 15 double faults that she attributed to a reshaped serve and nerves at the start of the tournament.
Another point on her first serve against Anisimova was not an encouraging start.
Although she quickly stemmed the flow, Raducanu’s serve was regularly punished by the American’s explosive hitting.
But Anisimova, who reached the French Open semi-finals as a 17-year-old in 2019 and is recovering after taking a break from the sport for mental health reasons in 2023, also struggled with her serve and dropped the first set. with a double fault.
At the start of the second set, there were more signs that Raducanu’s back problem was taking effect.
Afterwards, Raducanu said he had not “thoroughly investigated” whether it was related to the back spasm.
“When you haven’t played a game in so long, having two really physical games, I think there are going to be little problems here and there,” he added.
“I just hope that’s it.”
After stretching the area between points, three double faults led to another break and Raducanu called the coach when he lost serve again for 3-0.
The physiological, and perhaps psychological, boost helped her immediately.
Raducanu recovered both breaks to level them when he returned, before more treatment between exchanging another two breaks for 4-4.
Anisimova is a good attacker, but can be erratic, and Raducanu’s resistance from the baseline made for a delicately balanced ninth game to fight her way from 30-30.
Raducanu saved a break point in the eleventh game, set up a match point in the next with a wonderful crosscourt forehand and secured victory when Anisimova sliced a backhand wide.
“I had to fight hard and not give up even when things were bad,” Raducanu said.
With one day between his matches, Raducanu plans to “take it easy” on Friday.
“I’ll probably take a light hit. Nothing crazy,” he said.
Raducanu feared “bad blood” with Murray
Compatriot Murray was denied a final match at the All England Club last summer when Raducanu withdrew from their first-round mixed doubles match, citing pain in his wrist.
Murray was known to be disappointed, so Raducanu was particularly happy to be congratulated by him after beating Anisimova.
“I sent him a long message afterwards basically apologizing if I caused any problems, I guess at Wimbledon, that’s definitely the last thing I want,” he told the PA news agency.
“He’s someone I’ve grown up admiring and I don’t want any hard feelings or hard feelings towards him.
“I sent him a long message and he took it very well and responded saying he was disappointed but he understood.
“We’re fine now. We pass each other and say ‘hello’, ‘well done’. Obviously it’s great to see him with Novak (Djokovic) here too.”