Raducanu taking positives from painful Australian exit

MELBOURNE : Britain's Emma Raducanu said she will take the positives from her painful Australian Open exit on Thursday when a blistered racket hand contributed to a three-set defeat by Danka Kovinic.

The 19-year-old, who caused a sensation in September by winning the U.S. Open as a qualifier, went down 6-4 4-6 6-3 in a tense battle.

Raducanu needed her hand taped after the fifth game of the first set and was unable to strike her forehand with any power thereafter, resorting to a chipped slice.

Kovinic was initially thrown by it, but eventually got the better of the 17th seed to progress to the third round where she will face former world number one Simona Halep.

Raducanu recently caught COVID-19 and played only one match in the run-up to making her debut at the Grand Slam - hardly an ideal preparation.

She recorded an impressive win over former U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens on Tuesday, but despite showing lots of grit she could not resist 98th-ranked Kovinic.

Stephens said after losing to Raducanu that she would face lots of "ups and downs" as she tried to live up to the expectations now on her young shoulders.

But the way Raducanu dealt with misfortune on Thursday and came up with a plan that almost worked was impressive.

"I've been struggling with blisters since I started playing really in Australia, because 21 days, no tennis, my hands got pretty soft," Raducanu told reporters.

"I have been trying to like tape it for every practice, and it would like harden and dry out, but then once I would play again, like another layer would just keep ripping off."

Raducanu said some of her team had advised her not to play, but she was happy she gave it a go.

"Probably hit more (sliced forehands) in that match than I have in two or three