Raducanu overcomes sickness and pressure to win a gruelling French Open match and face Iga Swiatek.

Emma Raducanu dug deep into every ounce of her stamina and resolve to grind out a draining three-set victory at the French Open, despite falling ill before stepping on court. The British number two clawed her way past China’s Wang Xinyu in a rollercoaster 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 win that lasted two hours and 44 minutes, earning her a high-stakes second-round clash with defending champion Iga Swiatek.

Battling illness and exhaustion, Raducanu called for the doctor towards the end of the opening set, had her blood pressure checked during a medical stoppage, and even left the court before the final set. But she returned with renewed energy, breaking her opponent’s serve twice early in the decider and holding off a late fightback to seal what she called one of the most satisfying victories of her career.

“I’m actually really proud of today’s match,” the 22-year-old said afterwards. “I woke up and I felt really sick. To have come through that and overcome how I was feeling, I’m really happy with it.”

This is Raducanu’s first appearance at Roland Garros since 2022, having missed the last two French Opens due to injury. Currently ranked 41st in the world, the 2021 US Open champion has spent much of this season rebuilding her game and fitness — and silencing critics who questioned her mental and physical resilience.

She needed every scrap of both in a brutal match filled with momentum shifts and drama. After edging a nervy first set, Raducanu saw Wang — ranked just two spots below her — claw back to level, helped by a contentious line-call that clearly rattled the Brit. With energy levels fading, Raducanu took a medical timeout before the third set and returned to court looking physically spent, but emotionally fired up.

She raced into a double-break lead and though Wang twice broke back, Raducanu delivered the decisive 17th break of the match to close it out. As the final point ended, she dropped her racquet and stood motionless — physically drained but visibly elated.

“I was just fighting through,” she said. “It didn’t really go away throughout the whole match. It would have been easy to let it drag me down.”

The gutsy performance marks another step forward in Raducanu’s comeback campaign. She’s now won four of her eight three-set matches this year — a statistic that shows her growing tenacity and match sharpness after injury-hit seasons. Last week she suffered a back spasm in Strasbourg and used dry needling and heat therapy to recover just in time for Paris.

Coached by Jane O’Donoghue and Tom Welsh in Paris, with Mark Petchey unavailable due to commentary duties, Raducanu has found some consistency amid the chaos. Her win over Wang adds further credibility to her belief that her body and mind are finally beginning to work in sync.

“Finding the perfect balance between being hungry, being ready to play and being fit enough is difficult,” she said. “But playing more matches has helped. I’m more confident in deciding sets now.”

Her reward is a second-round showdown with world number one and four-time French Open champion Iga Swiatek, who breezed past Rebecca Sramkova 6-3, 6-3. It’s a daunting prospect, but Raducanu will go into the match battle-tested and unafraid.

Whatever happens against Swiatek, Raducanu’s dramatic Parisian opener was proof that her fighting spirit is well and truly alive — even when her body isn’t at its best.