Emma Raducanu advances to the third round of the Australian Open for the first time after battling injury to beat friend Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 7-5.
The 22-year-old required treatment for what appeared to be a lower back problem (it has been troubling him since a spasm before Christmas) but held on for the win and will face the powerful Iga Swiatek on Saturday.
If Raducanu has even a suspicion of injury in that match, he surely won't last much longer in Melbourne, but what matters for now is that he showed a tenacity we've rarely seen before to win despite physical discomfort.
“This is a Slam that I love to play, so getting past the second round means a lot to me,” Raducanu said.
“It's incredibly difficult when you play against a friend, it adds another dimension to the match and not necessarily a pleasant one. I think I did a good job. I knew I shouldn't lose in the second set.
'Today was complicated, it was a little windy, there was sun on one side. We both had some moments with our serve in patches. “I was pretty proud of the way I managed to regroup at the end of the first.”
Emma Raducanu advances to the third round of the Australian Open for the first time
The Brit battled through injury to beat friend Amanda Anisimova (pictured) 6-3, 7-5.
Raducanu's back went into spasm in pre-season when she bent down to tie her shoes, ruling her out of two weeks of training and the Auckland Open.
Even here in Melbourne she struggled to serve at full speed in training and in her first round victory against Ekaterina Alexandrova she committed 15 double faults.
There was clearly still some residual discomfort, but he worked his way through the first set magnificently, although it was noticeable that he spoke more to fitness trainer Yutaka Nakamura than to coach Nick Cavaday.
In the first game of the second set he committed three double faults and the expression of pain became a little more pronounced.
With the team down 3-0, the physiotherapist arrived and worked on both hips, apparently to try to loosen the lower back.
Raducanu doesn't exactly have the best track record of battling injuries, so the odds seemed to be heavily in Anisimova's favor.
But tennis is a curious sport and it may be the case that an injury to an opponent can alter a player's mind. This was a clear example, as Anisimova completely lost her mind for three games.
The temptation when playing against an injured opponent is to stand your ground and make her run, but that's not Anisimova's game, and by deviating from her aggressive style she lost all rhythm. In one service game he had two doubles and a measly 70mph second serve.
The former 2021 US Open champion required on-court treatment from a physical therapist
Raducanu brought the score back to 3-3 and led 30-0 on her own serve, but Anisimova scored four points. The physio returned in the next change.
However, Raducanu broke and served at 4-4 in what looked like a huge game. At 30-30 Anisimova had her running in the right corner; Raducanu extended an arm and retrieved a low ball. She roared and shook her fist, the first show of positive emotion since the medical timeout.
It felt like a very significant shot, not only in the context of the match but in terms of the physical “end of range” work he's been doing with Nakamura to strengthen Raducanu in a situation like that.
She also won the next point and raised a defiant fist towards the sky.
There was another magnificent sliced backhand at the end of Raducanu's range as Anisimova successfully served to stay in the set.
Raducanu was pressing and fighting, scraping and scrapping balls to get them back into play. Anisimova is as good at hitting the ball as there is in world tennis, but when asked to improvise on the court she struggles, so Raducanu's defensive cheap shots worried her.
Once again, Anisimova served to stay in the match, but this time Raducanu earned a match point. She played a beautiful skim cut and, as expected, Anisimova sliced it wide.
Raducanu doesn't have the best track record of battling injuries, but he ruled it out
Raducanu put his hands to his head in disbelief and there was a warm hug between the two friends on the net.
Raducanu may have held on to his first Grand Slam third round, but now a tougher challenge awaits him, one he will relish.
“It will be a good match for me,” he said of his third-round clash against world No. 2 Swiatek. 'Any game I get to play against these big opponents… I love it. It's a chance to test my game and see where I'm at.
'We played twice before on clay. Let's see on the hard court. She has already achieved a lot. Going into it, I have nothing to lose. I'm just going to swing. I'm going to give my best. “I can't wait to play in front of you.”