Daria Saville (nee Gavrilova) has made a huge statement in her return to tennis with a 5-7 7-6(4) 4-3 ret. victory over U.S Open champion and first seed Emma Raducanu at the WTA Guadalajara event in Mexico on Wednesday.
After sitting out 2021 because of chronic Achilles issues, the 610th-ranked Saville achieved one of the best results of her career despite the retirement of the 12th-ranked Brit.
In a match that spanned three hours and 28 minutes, Saville suffered significant cramp and took a medical timeout at the start of the third set, with the issue looking likely to cost her the match.
But Raducanu suffered her own leg issue early in the third set and was forced to take a medical timeout, with suggestion Saville's cramps would only get worse during another lengthy break.
However, Raducanu returned barely able to run and after just managing to hold serve, she retired after the first point of her next service game following a Saville hold.
The top half of the draw is now wide open after Raducanu's exit, with Saville set to play USA's Caroline Dolehide in the round-of-16, before a potential match-up with Sloane Stephens in the quarter-finals.
Saville's ranking should start to slowly rise as she gets more results on the tour, with the Australian a long way off the career high of 20 she reached in 2017.
Speaking to SEN prior to the Australian Open, Saville revealed the injury battle she has gone through during her career.
"My Achilles, I’ve had this chronic pain for six years, since 2016," she told SEN Breakfast.
"We didn’t know where it came from but it’s a bit of an overuse injury, I think a lot of runners get it.
"It’s really hard to explain to someone who hasn’t had Achilles pain what it is, I was battling through it and after the Australian Open, I couldn’t even walk off the court.
"I was like, ‘this is it’, I had pain that was ten out of ten.
"My team were like, 'no, it can’t be possible, you had a really good preseason, what are you talking about', and I say, 'I don’t know what’s going on but something has to change'."
