Reigning US Open champion Emma Raducanu crashed out of the Australian Open in the second round on Thursday as she struggled with blisters on her hand so bad that some of her team had urged her not to play. 

Raducanu, 19, making her debut at Melbourne Park, looked on track when she raced to a 3-0 lead in the opening set against Montenegro’s Danka Kovinic. But the 17th seed then lost five games in a row and needed a medical timeout for treatment on her right, racquet hand, and said afterwards that the blisters were so bad she had only been able to practise backhands. Despite battling back she couldn’t stop 98th ranked Kovinic winning 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.