Emma Raducanu is the last British woman standing at the Australian Open after she demonstrated her tenacity and resourcefulness en route to a 6-3, 7-5 second-round win against her friend Amanda Anisimova. Hopes of a deep run for the British No 1, Katie Boulter, ended in a disappointing 6-7(3), 6-2, 2-6 defeat by Veronika Kudermetova.
“I played really well in some big moments,” said Raducanu. “It was going to be a really challenging one, playing Amanda. She’s a good friend of mine, so it’s never easy.
“That adds another dimension to the match but I’m happy I stuck with her in the second set and came through and found a way.”
By breaking new ground with her first run to the third round here, Raducanu has set up an opportunity to test herself against Iga Swiatek, one of the best players of her generation. Swiatek, the second seed and five-time grand slam champion, dismantled Rebecca Sramkova of Slovakia 6-0, 6-2.
Anisimova dominated the early stages of the day-five meeting between two former teenage prodigies with her heavyweight ball-striking before Raducanu slowly began to work herself into the match, showing her resourcefulness with her defence, shot tolerance and ability to flip points from defence to attack.
In a sport filled with bigger, stronger athletes and shotmakers capable of hitting her off the court, she takes pride in her court sense and ability to solve problems, using all facets of her well-rounded game to figure out solutions. This performance was an excellent example of her ability.
“Traditionally, I’ve probably been labelled as a player who is an aggressive baseliner and that’s been my only dimension,” Raducanu said. “But having the ability and dexterity to do other things on the court is really beneficial when you play these big hitters and big opponents.”
During the second set, she struggled with back pain and took a medical timeout while trailing 0-3. Although in pain until the end, she finished the match by winning seven of the last nine games.
“I haven’t fully investigated it yet,” Raducanu said of the problem. “I just did my recovery. Haven’t seen the physios.
“It’s almost to be expected when you haven’t played a match in so long and then to have two really physical ones. Small niggles are going to come up here and there. I’m just hoping that it is that. I was able to push past some pain today but I’m going to just try and recover as best as possible over the next day.”
Boulter was unable to find a solution to a strong performance from Kudermetova as she lost in three bruising sets. The Russian struggled badly with her form in 2024, compiling a dire 18-25 record as she fell to her current ranking of 75, but she is a former top-10 player who was as high as No 9 in January 2023. Her performance was a significant improvement on last year’s form.
Boulter had arrived here in excellent form after narrowly losing to Swiatek in the United Cup and before the tournament she identified the grand slam tournaments as a priority in 2025. Despite fighting hard after a slow start, the 28-year-old was outplayed in the final set.
“It was a little bit of a whirlwind,” said Boulter. “She played extremely well at times and then she let me in again.
“I played some better stuff, but just wasn’t quite there. In the third set maybe if I had taken a deep breath or taken two seconds to myself we could have gone the other way. It wasn’t one-sided maybe as the score suggests. I had chances, didn’t quite take them.”
After a career-best season last year took her into the top 25, Boulter is still searching for her first deep run at a grand slam. Her most impressive results remains two runs to the third round of Wimbledon and one third-round run at the US Open.
“I pride myself on every single week that I go out and put everything I have on the court,” she said. “Today I didn’t quite get there. Losing a match like that hurts, but I’m someone that’s going to keep showing up.
“My level, when I think back to it over these last three weeks, has been above my normal level for a long period now. If I keep putting that in every single day, then I know I’m going to have my moment.”
