Emma Raducanu: British star checked by French Open doctor but battles through to set up blockbuster with Iga Swiatek

Emma Raducanu battles illness in gutsy French Open encounter to reach second round; follow scores and reports from Roland-Garros on Sky Sports’ digital platforms; you can watch all the ATP and WTA action on Sky Sports Tennis and Sky Sports+, NOW and the Sky Sports app

Emma Raducanu overcame a lengthy medical time-out during a gutsy three-set first-round victory at the French Open to set up a blockbuster meeting with four-time champion Iga Swiatek.

The 22-year-old was leading China’s Wang Xinyu 6-5 in the first set when she called for the doctor, rubbing ice on her cheeks and around her eyes as she had her blood pressure checked.

There were fears that Raducanu, who has had a series of injury and illness issues throughout her career, would have to retire from the match. But after three minutes of treatment she came back on to the court and confidently served out the set to love.

“I felt bad from the morning. I was just trying and fighting through that. It was really difficult. You know, in the first set, I just felt it straight away and it didn’t really go away throughout the whole match.

“To have kind of come through that and overcome how I was feeling, I’m really happy with and I didn’t let it kind of, you know…it would have been easy to kind of let it drag me down.

Prior to the match, Raducanu had admitted the back problem she suffered in Strasbourg last week was was still not 100 per cent right.

The 2021 US champion has had to overcome a phobia of needles to undergo acupuncture in a bid to ease the issue.

Raducanu’s movement did not appear to be hindered by the problem, but her energy levels did seem low.

At the start of the second set, the British No 2 flagged again allowing Wang, who is ranked two places beneath her at 43 in the world, to move 5-1 ahead.