Emma Raducanu’s Australian Open campaign ends in second round

Emma Raducanu’s Australian Open ended in the second round with an error-strewn loss to Anastasia Potapova.

The British number one had been hoping to set up another clash with world number one Aryna Sabalenka but she faded from a promising position and fell to a 7-6 (3) 6-2 defeat.

Having arrived in Melbourne short of matches and preparation after suffering with a foot injury throughout pre-season, it should not be a surprise that Raducanu was below her best here.

She was not helped by windy conditions that accentuated the mistakes, and she must now look to put in the work on the practice court she has been missing.

The pair had never played a competitive match before but Raducanu grew up all too aware of Potapova’s talent, with the 24-year-old the leading junior of her age.

Potapova became the latest player to switch from representing Russia at the end of last season, now playing under the flag of her adopted home country of Austria.

She has slipped from a high of 21 in the rankings outside the top 50, and initially it was Raducanu on top, although errors were far outweighing winners from both players in the difficult conditions.

It took six games for either player to hold serve, and Raducanu seemed in control at 5-3 up but she was unable to clinch the set, with Potapova upping her level and playing a strong tie-break.

Raducanu appeared to lack belief in her game and the shouts of ‘Raddo’ from her Australian super fan James Bray, who has earned plenty of media attention after the former US Open champion invited him to all her matches, were becoming fewer and fewer.

Her head hung low as she dropped serve twice to start the second set and, even though she gave herself hope by immediately retrieving one break, she promptly double faulted to slip 4-1 behind.

A final backhand into the net took Raducanu’s tally of unforced errors to 28, leaving Cameron Norrie as the only British singles player left.