Now Sabalenka awaits
Potapova knocks out former US Open champion
Anastasia Potapova is through to the third round of the Australian Open. The new Austrian defeated Britain's Emma Raducanu, winner of the 2021 US Open, in two sets on Wednesday, 7-6(3) and 6-2.
Anastasia Potapova reached the third round of the Australian Open, which has a prize fund of €63.42 million, on Wednesday. The new Austrian, who is playing her first Grand Slam tennis tournament for her new home country, defeated the higher-ranked British player Emma Raducanu 7-6(3), 6-2 in Melbourne after 92 minutes. Potapova will now face top seed Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus on Friday in the battle for a place in the round of 16. Sabalenka defeated China's Bai Zhuoxuan 6-3, 6-1.
Julia Grabher is the second Austrian to compete for a place in the third round of the first Grand Slam tournament of the year on Thursday: The Vorarlberg native will face 31st-seeded Russian Anna Kalinskaya in the second match after 1 a.m. CET.
Nervous start for both players
"I'm very happy about the win. I was very nervous in the first set, and I think Emma felt the same way," Potapova recalled. After five breaks in a row right at the start, it was a question of who would keep their nerve and hold their serve first. "My mentality is one of the few things I can really rely on."
Potapova initially fell behind 2-4 after no fewer than five breaks in a row. But at 4-5, with her back against the wall, she managed to break back to 5-5. In the tiebreak, Potapova prevailed with her first set point. In the second set, the 1.75 m tall right-hander, whose grandmother was once the Russian national tennis team coach and who introduced her granddaughter to tennis, quickly took a 3-0 lead. Despite losing her serve at 3-1, the course was set for victory over the former US Open champion, with Potapova converting her second match point.
With a broken finger against the world number 1
Potapova, who is playing in Melbourne with a broken left index finger, has lost both of her previous matches against Sabalenka in straight sets, winning only seven games. She was unable to compete in another match due to her injury. "She's a good friend, I like her a lot. Every time I play her, I learn something new and see something I need to work on," revealed Austria's number one. "I have nothing to lose. I'm in the third round, I have a broken finger, and I'm still enjoying tennis. I'm trying to enjoy it and play good tennis."
The condition of her finger has not changed. "Nothing will change in the next month, I think. It's just a broken bone, you can only wait." Potapova is in the third round of a major for the seventh time, her biggest success to date being the round of 16 at the 2024 French Open.
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