Any hopes that Emma Raducanu had of repeating her fairytale in New York were eroded as she lost in three tight sets to Danka Kovinic 6-4 4-6 6-3 in the second round of the Australian Open.
Hampered by what looked like blisters on her right hand, which required repeated treatment from the trainer, she looked unable to unleash her usually aggressive game plan of heavy-hitting groundstrokes.
The 19-year-old did well to stay in the match for so long, using her shot variation to good effect at points and playing through the pain. However, with her most potent weapons seemingly nullified by the ailment, she could not force her way past the Montenegrin on Margaret Court Arena.
The result was no more than Kovinic deserved having battled her way back into the match from 3-0 down and pushing Raducanu to all four corners of the court throughout to reach the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career.
It proved a bizarre opening set as Raducanu resumed with the same aggressive approach she had used in her opening match against Sloane Stephens and raced into that three-game lead.
Having broken her opponent’s opening two service games, the match turned as Kovinic broke back in game four courtesy of a string of positive groundstrokes.
A game later Raducanu had to call the trainer onto court for the first time to bandage her clearly damaged right hand.
Her rival then went on a run of five straight games to flip the match on its head. Raducanu finally brought it to an abrupt halt with Kovinic serving for the set, converting the break point at the second time of asking.
But any hopes that the momentum might then flip in favour of the No17 seed were duly undone in the very next game, Raducanu limply hitting the ball into the next to gift her rival the set.
Set two again began in Raducanu’s favour as she immediately broke and, improvising for her damaged hand, mixed up her shots well to move ahead 3-1.
A year ago, Kovinic had been drawn against world No1 Ash Barty in the first round and lost 6-0 6-0 but this time looked at ease on the big stage and broke back in a tight second set which could have gone to either player.
In the end, it was Raducanu who moved into the ascendancy with another late break and served out for the set despite being taken to deuce. The resurgence was thanks, in part, to a first-serve percentage of 87.
The deciding set provided a fluctuating denouement, both players unable to hold onto serve with any consistency but, in the end, it was Kovinic who had just enough in reserve to book her passage into the third round.
