Izuchukwu Okosi
Emma Raducanu suffered an upset on Thursday at the Australian Open and has crashed out of the tournament after she was beaten by the world number 98, Danka Kovinic.
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Raducanu had beaten US star Sloane Stephen in her first game in the tournament.
Raducanu’s Australian Open debut ended in 6-4 4-6 6-3 defeat as she struggled with blisters on her hands.
British number 1 Raducanu revealed that she has been nursing the blister for about five days.
“It has been a challenge, for sure,” she told BBC Sport.
“The past few days I have been really hindered in my practice and couldn’t hit any forehands or serves at all.
“Some people in my team didn’t really want me to go out there. I wanted to go and fight and see how far that would take me.”
In other games, third seed Garbine Muguruza lost to French veteran Alize Cornet 6-3 6-3 and sixth seed Anett Kontaveit beaten 6-2 6-4 by Danish teenager Clara Tauson.
Simona Halep put in a clinical performance to see off Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-2 6-0, while, second seed Aryna Sabalenka surrendered the opening set before outclassing China’s Wang Xinyu 1-6 6-4 6-2.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
