Emma Raducanu is looking forward to facing Coco Gauff in the second round of the Australian Open after defeating Tamara Korpatsch 6-3 6-2.
The former US Open champion had to overcome an ankle injury and a gritty performance from Tamara Korpatsch to advance to the second round.
Raducanu had injured her ankle in Auckland a couple of weeks ago and was a doubt to play the Australian Open.
However the Brit overcame the injury to ease past the German in 86 minutes to seal a place in the second round.
After the match Raducanu said the challenge of playing with an ankle injury was more physical than mental and in the end felt fine during the match, “So to test it out in a real match and with the unpredictability and stuff, like, just getting used to it in the beginning. But, yeah, it felt good,” the Brit said in her press conference.
“Well, I think you know it’s there, and if anything, it kind of alleviates any pressure, because you’re, like, well, I’ve done so well to get myself onto the court, and my team has done so well.
“Then for me to be out there, it’s like I might as well just enjoy all the hard work we’ve done to get myself here. If anything, it’s not mental, it’s more just like physical and playing, yeah, seeing how it is.”
The 20 year-old also revealed in press that putting ice pack on the ankle was precautionary given the brutal Melbourne heat, “The thing is, I’ve not necessarily done that much training, so I think part of it is also just precautionary,” Raducanu admitted.
“Like, you just want to stay on top of it before you get hit with, Oh, I’m exhausted and stuff. You just gotta stay on top of it beforehand and hopefully you don’t get to that point.”
Raducanu will be hoping her ankle will remain pain-free when she takes on seventh seed Coco Gauff.
Gauff defeated Katerina Siniakova in comfortable fashion, securing a 6-1 6-4 victory to seal her place in the second round.
Ahead of the contest Raducanu praised Gauff and admitted she is someone to learn from as she looks ahead to the rest of her career, “I’m really looking forward to this match. I’m very up for it,” Raducanu said.
“Coco has obviously done a lot of great things and she’s playing well. I’m just looking forward to the matchup. I think we’re both good, young players, we’re both coming through. Yeah, part of the next generation of tennis really. Yeah, it’s going to be a great match.
“Well, I think she’s a great athlete. When she first came at Wimbledon, I think after that, took her a little bit to adjust as well, but then she definitely found her feet. She’s playing really good tennis and looking really solid right now.
“I think I can learn from everyone. It’s not just the top players that you see in the rankings that you can learn from. There are players ranked 150 in
the world taking care of what they need to take care of in the gym and the locker room. I think that often gets quite overlooked and you don’t see it.
“So I think, yeah, of course she’s someone who’s also achieved great things and is a good role model, but so is pretty much everyone out there.”
Wednesday’s meeting will be the first meeting between the two players with Gauff entering as slight favourite.
