Emma Raducanu battled back from a set down to beat Ann Li and make a winning start to her Eastbourne Open campaign. She went into the match as the overwhelming favourite but suffered an early scare when her rival took the opening set. However, she responded brilliantly to secure a 6-7 6-3 6-1 victory and book a second-round meeting with Australian teenager Maya Joint.
It was not an easy match for Raducanu, who was playing for the first time since losing to Qinwen Zheng at Queen’s Club. She has been nursing a back injury over the last few weeks and moved gingerly around the court at times. She took a while to get into her rhythm, making a couple of unforced errors as Li held serve in the opening game of the match.
The young Brit was comfortably broken in game two, with Li enjoying a much better start to proceedings. Raducanu was frustrated when she came within a point of breaking back, only to surrender the next five points and fall even further behind.
She finally got herself on the board in game four and it was followed by her first break as the tables began to turn. The former US Open champion had the crowd on her side and earned a roar of approval for the first time in the match.
The next four games were straightforward holds, with Li successfully curbing her opponent’s momentum. At one point, Raducanu slipped and looked to be struggling physically in a potential worry ahead of Wimbledon next week.
She began stretching her back between points and choosing to stand rather than sit during some changeovers. Li took advantage and had the opportunity to break for the set, but a tiebreak was ultimately required to split the two players.
Li made a fast start, winning the first two points, and ended up claiming the set with Raducanu conceding a couple of mini-breaks. She looked to be struggling physically at times, stretching her back between points and choosing to stand during some changeovers.
The second set continued in a similar vein to the first, with the pair exchanging breaks in the opening two games. There was little to separate them until Raducanu secured another break in game six after several holds of serve.
Li returned the favour at the very next opportunity, putting the match right back in the balance. It did not last long, though, with Raducanu securing yet another break and flashing a smile at the crowd before successfully serving out the set.
She carried her momentum into the decisive third set, breaking Li in the very first game to set the tone. A simple hold saw Raducanu double her lead but Li showed that she would not be going down quietly by holding the next game to love.
However, repeated mistakes began to creep into her game which proved costly as Raducanu began to turn the screw. Another break of serve put her on the edge of victory and she won the next two games to wrap up a hard-fought win.
It remains to be seen how Raducanu will fare in her next outing against Joint, with her injury problems yet to fully subside. It will be crucial to avoid any major setbacks between now and the start of Wimbledon, which gets underway on Monday.
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