Former Middlesbrough and Birmingham full-back Emilio Nsue scored a hat-trick as Equatorial Guinea roared to a 4-2 Africa Cup of Nations win over Guinea-Bissau.

Nsue, now 34 and captaining his national side as well as leading the attack, hit the first treble at an AFCON since 2008.

The Elephants now have four points from their first two matches in Group A following Sunday’s surprise 1-1 draw with Nigeria.

The opening goal arrived in the 21st minute following a poor clearance by Guinea-Bissau goalkeeper Ouparine Djoco.

Pablo Ganet lifted the ball over the back-line into the path of Nsue, who charged through on goal and slotted his finish past Djoco.

Guinea-Bissau, beaten by hosts Ivory Coast in their opening match, equalised after 37 minutes when Mauro Rodrigues sent a low cross into the box and defender Esteban turned the ball into his own net.

Moments later Guinea-Bissau were awarded a penalty after Saul Coco appeared to bring down Franculino Dju in the area, but the decision was overturned by VAR.

Instead another mistake at the start of the second half gifted Equatorial Guinea the lead again.

Sori Mane failed to deal with a long ball and Josete Miranda was able to race clear and fire home.

That advantage was extended in the 51st minute when Djoco missed Basilio Ndong’s cross and Nsue finished at the far post.

Nsue, who played more than 100 games in the Championship between 2014 and 2018, completed his treble on the hour after rounding Djoco.

The goal was initially ruled out by an offside flag, but after an anxious wait was eventually given by VAR.

Nsue therefore became the first player to achieve the feat since Morocco’s Soufiane Alloudi 16 years ago and joined an illustrious list of AFCON hat-trick heroes including Samuel Eto’o, Hossam Hassan and Benni McCarthy.

Ze Turbo pulled another back for Guinea-Bissau on the stroke of full-time.

Paul Townend will have an enviable book of rides at the Dublin Racing Festival as he seeks to find the top novice prospects to partner alongside proven stars.

The two-day meeting was created in 2018 and has quickly become a real highlight of the National Hunt calendar, with eight Grade One races across the weekend including the Irish Gold Cup and Irish Champion Hurdle.

Willie Mullins is guaranteed to field a powerful team of horses and as stable jockey, Townend has the pick of the bunch when it comes to selecting his rides.

In the novice ranks, where horses are yet to assert themselves in a clear hierarchy, this leaves the rider with a few tricky choices to make as the meeting, run on February 3 and 4, approaches.

“I’m trying to sit on as many as I can and see what’s going well,” he said.

“Especially the novices, because they can step forward so much, like the two-mile novice hurdle that was run at Christmas as an example (Paddy Power Future Champions Novice Hurdle).

“We’re still in the dark about what probably is our best. Daddy Long Legs didn’t turn up on the day. He could win at Leopardstown in February and he didn’t show up at all at Christmas. I thought I’d know a bit more coming out of Christmas, and I don’t.”

Another example the rider offers is El Fabiolo, a 10-length winner of the Goffs Irish Arkle last season when Townend had opted to ride the third-placed Appreciate It instead.

He said: “Then there’s the novice chasers. Last year, El Fabiolo showed up, I chose the wrong one. Novices can progress at different rates.”

Though there is this element of the unknown with less experienced horses, Townend generally views it as a positive rather than a negative as runners can improve significantly and sometimes unexpectedly as they progress.

“When they do something you’re not expecting it’s fantastic,” he said.

“The other side is the disappointment of the one you think is going to build and keep building throughout the year and it just peters out.

“At the very start of my career, as an 18-year-old, I had Hurricane Fly winning my first Grade One in the Royal Bond. So I probably always loved what might happen with the novices.”

While there will be decisions to be made regarding his novice rides, there is no question Townend will partner proven top horses like State Man and Galopin Des Champs.

State Man, a favourite of Townend’s, is odds-on for the Chanelle Pharma Irish Champion Hurdle, a race he won by nearly five lengths from Honeysuckle last season.

“He just turns up every time. You can rely on him,” he said.

“You can make the running if nothing else will or you can sit in behind. He just shows up and runs his race most of the time.

“He jumps, he gallops and he tries hard for you. I just get a great kick out of winning on him, I must say, and doing it for the Donnellys (owners) adds to that.”

Galopin Des Champs returned to winning ways in the Savills Chase after two beaten runs behind Fastorslow previously, and Townend is confident the reigning Cheltenham Gold Cup winner can hold his own to retain his Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup title.

“He’s doing well and everything has gone well since the Savills Chase at Leopardstown at Christmas,” he said.

“He probably had a little bit to prove that day after losing twice, although we never lost faith in him and he was showing us all the same things at home. But that performance was as good as anything he had ever done before and if he were to repeat that every day, that would be good enough for me!

“It will be a strong race for definite and Fastorslow is obviously a big danger again but there hasn’t been all that much between them in the Punchestown Gold Cup and the John Durkan. I’d be confident if Galopin is firing, he would take all the beating.”

Topsy Ojo believes now is the right time for Steve Borthwick to freshen up his England squad with one eye looking ahead to the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia.

On Wednesday, Borthwick named seven uncapped players in the 35-man training camp ahead of next month’s Guinness Six Nations.

Broadcaster Ojo, who won two England caps in 2008, admitted the likes of Billy Vunipola and Kyle Sinckler will be disappointed at missing out on selection, but the introduction of young talent will strengthen their World Cup bid in three years’ time.

He said: “Now is the time to have something new and do something fresh and if you look at the guys he’s (Steve Borthwick) picked, they’re all there on merit and have played incredibly well.

“It’s an exciting squad. There’s a continuity of leadership and emerging young talent.

“Sinckler and Vunipola will be disappointed and you know they’ll go away and fight tooth and nail to get their shirts back.

“It’s the start of a new cycle. Who will benefit from being exposed now? Out of the uncapped players, we need to think who will be playing in Australia in 2027 with 30 caps under their belts and are battle-ready and experienced in international rugby. There’s that long-term vision ahead and it starts now.”

Borthwick, who replaced Eddie Jones in December 2022, had a rocky start to his tenure as England head coach but finished 2023 with a third-placed finish at the World Cup.

Ojo believes the 44-year-old is still the right man to take the side forward.

“Yes, 100 per cent,” Ojo said. “It was a difficult time for him to come in because a lot of the other teams were settled in their processes.

“He’s been through some painful experiences, but ultimately he’s taken this team to a World Cup semi and a bronze-place finish.

“If you look at the squad he’s picked now, he has the talent at his disposal to make England a success.

“Will there be some teething problems early on? Yes. That’s the nature of sport, but it’s a challenge he’ll look forward to and embrace. So is he the man to do it. Absolutely.”

Exeter wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, who was born in Cardiff and eligible to play for Wales, is among the new additions and Ojo talked up the 21-year-old.

He said: “I’m happy to see Feyi-Waboso in there. He’s electric and I’m happy to see him exposed at the next level. He’s not played that many senior games but he’s shown enough.”

Rory McIlroy was left to rue a poor finish to his opening round in the defence of his Hero Dubai Desert Classic title.

Seeking a record fourth victory in the event at Emirates Golf Club, McIlroy made an excellent start with four birdies in the first nine holes and bounced back from a bogey on the first – his 10th hole – with a birdie on the second.

However, the world number two then three-putted the sixth, duffed a chip on the seventh to drop another shot and also bogeyed the eighth to card a disappointing one-under-par 71.

That left the four-time major winner four shots off the lead shared by 2018 winner Li Haotong, England’s Andy Sullivan, American Cameron Young and Denmark’s Rasmus Hojgaard.

Li missed the cut or withdrew from his last 16 events in 2023 but finished 14th in last week’s Dubai Invitational and carried on where he left off with seven birdies and two bogeys in his 67.

“I think I played just as solid as last week,” the three-time DP World Tour winner said.

“I’ve been working on a lot of stuff during the wintertime and (am starting to) see some results like this. I can’t believe it’s six years since my win here.

“It’s a lot of great memories and hopefully I can continue to do some magic here.”

Sullivan’s form also came as something of a welcome surprise, the former Ryder Cup player carding a bogey-free 67 on his debut appearance in 2024.

“First event of the year for me so you’re always a bit anxious,” Sullivan said.

“You never know quite how you’ve done in practice. Could be playing brilliantly, and then you never know until you put it into tournament rounds.

“I felt like I grew into the round well. I didn’t feel like I started great, but then sort of got around the turn and felt like I was swinging it a lot better and felt like I could go at a few more flags and the putter got hot. Massively satisfied.”

Young looked unlikely to enjoy a share of the lead when he bogeyed the ninth to reach the turn in one over par, but the world number 25 birdied the 10th, 13th, 16th and 17th before holing from 50 feet for an eagle on the last.

“I played really well,” Young said. “The front-nine scoring was a little bit hard to come by.

“I played better than that so I was really happy with the back nine, happy just that I stayed patient throughout the front nine and kind of let it come to me late. To make those birdies and eagle on the last was tremendous.”

England’s Richard Mansell was part of a seven-strong group on four under par, with former world number one Adam Scott and Dubai Invitational winner Tommy Fleetwood another stroke back.

Ronnie O’Sullivan has once again questioned his snooker future after squeezing into the quarter-finals of the World Grand Prix in Leicester with a 4-3 win over Zhou Yuelong.

Just four days after his controversial eighth Masters triumph over Ali Carter, O’Sullivan said he was getting no enjoyment from continuing to move through tournaments with comparative ease.

O’Sullivan told ITV4: “I’ve got to really consider whether I can carry on feeling how I’m feeling out there – I just don’t get any enjoyment from the way I’m hitting the ball.

“I feel like it’s just hard work, I haven’t a clue where the balls are going, and a lot of it’s just guess-work.

“The worst thing is you’re winning bloody tournaments as well. If I was getting pumped every round playing like that it would be an easy decision to make.”

O’Sullivan had eased into a two-frame lead with breaks of 67 and 107 and looked set to extend that advantage before he missed a red to the top pocket to run aground on a break of 50 in the next.

Yet to beat O’Sullivan in their five previous encounters, Zhou responded in style with a 76 to narrow the deficit, then a nerveless 102 to level the match and confirm the change in momentum.

Zhou, who had recovered from a three-frame deficit to push O’Sullivan to a final frame decider in their most recent meeting at the UK Championship in December, responded to falling behind again with breaks of 65 and 66 to force the decider.

The Chinese player got in first and potted a red and black, but missed his chance to the middle and O’Sullivan swept up with aplomb with a nerveless 90 to seal another seemingly unsatisfactory win.

“It’s been happening like this for 25 or 30 years, so it’s nothing new,” O’Sullivan added.

“It’s the only thing I’ve known and it’s hard not to do this because it’s my job, it’s all I know, so I’ve struggled through it.

“But I can’t accept bad cueing, I’d rather cue well and lose than cue awful and win tournaments. I get no satisfaction out of it, I really don’t.”

O’Sullivan will face Gary Wilson in the last eight after the reigning Northern Ireland Open champion saw off Tom Ford 4-2.

Simone Inzaghi has challenged his Inter Milan players to lift the Supercoppa Italiana for a third straight season as they take on the new format for the first time.

The competition has been expanded to four teams, with the runners-up from both Serie A and the Coppa Italia added to the mix.

With all games being played in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Coppa Italia holders Inter will face Serie A runners-up Lazio on Friday, with the winner advancing to play either league champions Napoli or cup runners-up Fiorentina.

“The Supercoppa is the first objective of the season,” Inzaghi said. “Inter won it in the last two years and we want to win it again. We’ll do our best.

“We have another training session and I need to make careful assessments (on the squad). Everyone was available yesterday, except (Juan) Cuadrado. I have to make decisions, being a final played over two legs.

“Now, I am only thinking about the Lazio game. I am serene, Inter have the same ambitions as Lazio, Napoli and Fiorentina. Tomorrow, we meet an undefeated team in the last five, and it has always caused trouble for us.”

Lautaro Martinez scored a brace in Inter’s 5-1 Serie A win over Monza last weekend, moving to 20 goals in all competitions for the season.

But while the Argentinian has been in sparkling form, Inter have been linked with a striker in the January window – something Inzaghi would not be drawn on.

“We have a club behind us that is thinking about it,” he said. “I am satisfied with my four strikers in the first part of the season, they are giving us great satisfaction.”

Leading the line for Lazio will be veteran forward Ciro Immobile. The 33-year-old was linked with making Saudi Arabia his permanent home last summer, but asked on Thursday if he would still be interested in joining the Saudi Pro League, he said he was fully focused on Lazio.

“(Saudi Arabia) is developing as a league, infrastructures are improving compared to 2019,” Immobile said.

“Now, everyone has their eyes set on Saudi Arabia and believes there will be an important league here in the future. I spoke to local clubs in the past, but nothing happened in the end. I’ve always tried to be as transparent as possible and I decided to stay at Lazio and carry the project forward.”

Immobile was a late substitute in Lazio’s 1-0 win over Lecce as he comes back from injury.

“We feel the weight of the game,” he added. “It’s a trophy with two finals that are played within three days. There is little time to prepare for all matches. We are proud and happy with what we did last season and want to enjoy this moment.

“I was sidelined for three weeks, but playing 15 minutes against Lecce was important. I’ve had the chance to train and work to return to the top. We only lacked consistency, but the team has always worked well. Sometimes things didn’t work, but we’ve been improving.”

A Dream To Share is set to bid for back-to-back victories in the Goffs Future Stars INH Flat Race at next month’s Dublin Racing Festival, after connections put a pause on plans to go hurdling this season.

The JP McManus-owned six-year-old is five from five in bumpers for veteran trainer John Kiely, also landing the Champion Bumper at Cheltenham and a Grade One at Punchestown.

He was due to embark on a hurdling career this term and was at the head of the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle market, but a setback meant he missed his intended jumping debut at Punchestown in October and he was later ruled out until the new year.

And while A Dream To Share is reported to be back in good form, McManus’ racing manager Frank Berry has confirmed he will instead revert to the bumper route in Leopardstown’s Grade Two finale on February 3.

He said: “All being well, he’ll go for the bumper (at the Dublin Racing Festival).

“Basically he’s missed a few schooling days and a few things and with the setback it just didn’t give us a lot of time to get him jumping.

“He’s eligible for the bumper in Leopardstown and that’s the route he’s going to take, so let’s see how we get on doing this.

“He’s coming along nicely, John is happy with him. We’ll learn a bit more at the Dublin Racing Festival and see where we go from there.”

Joe Joyce admits it would be a crazy decision to retire now as he targets a return to winning ways in “thriving” heavyweight division against Kash Ali.

Frank Warren announced the first “Magnificent Seven” boxing card of 2024 on Thursday, including Joyce and Nathan Heaney, will take place in Birmingham on March 16.

Joyce will look to bounce back from two defeats to China’s Zhilei Zhang in 2023 and try to return to world title fight contention.

“It’s good to be back and get back into camp and to start the year with a bang,” Joyce said at a press conference at Birmingham’s Resorts World Arena.

“I’m still here. I’m not retiring and I have plenty of fights to be in. It’s an exciting time to be in. Why retire now? I’d be crazy to.

“I want to get back to winning ways again with a nice victory and then there are plenty of fights on the horizon. The heavyweight division is thriving at the moment especially with the opportunities in Saudi Arabia.

“Styles make fights and he’s a hard hitting durable southpaw (Zhang). I learnt from the first fight but I didn’t get the result (in the second). He got the beating of me and I’ll see what he’ll do next.”

Following his victory over Denzel Bentley in November, the undefeated Heaney will headline the event when he defends his British middleweight title against Brad Pauls.

The Stoke fighter said: “I’ve got the British title and the next title after that is the English title (which Pauls holds) so he is no easy pick at all.

“It was something I’ve always dreamt about (winning British title). That motivation is there for everyone. He’s better than people think, he has got a good jab and it sets up for a good fight.”

Birmingham’s Solomon Dacres features on the card, Eithan James fights Owen Cooper for the English welterweight title and Zach Parker faces Germany’s Tyron Zeuge.

Dennis McCann will also return to the ring after August’s technical draw with Ionut Baluta when he goes head-to-head with Liverpool’s Brad Strand while Erik Robles fights Liam Davies for the IBO world super bantamweight title.

The news comes soon after the announcement of Anthony Joshua’s next bout against MMA star Francis Ngannou in Saudi Arabia on March 8.

Queensbury promoter Warren said: “We have so many quality fights, great for those buying tickets.

“We have top talent with youngsters coming through. It’s a competitive fight for everyone on the card. We have revived the format, we will do this a few times this year.”

Sandor Clegane will look to get off the mark over fences when he heads to Navan on Saturday.

The Paul Nolan-trained seven-year-old was a good quality hurdler who finished a close third in the Albert Bartlett at Cheltenham last season and then went on to win the valuable Irish EBF Auction Hurdle Series Final at Punchestown.

He made his chasing debut at Fairyhouse in early November and finished fourth whilst gaining experience around an insufficient trip of two miles and a half a furlong.

At Punchestown later the same month the gelding was stepped up in both trip and level to contest the Florida Pearl Novice Chase, a Grade Two run over three miles for which he was a 7-2 chance.

Gordon Elliott’s Favori De Champdou was an easy 14-length winner of that race as Sandor Clegane finished second with Flooring Porter, Affordale Fury and Quilixios behind him.

Navan will be the next port of call for the bay, who holds an entry for the Jack Kiernans Celebrating 55 Years In Business Beginners Chase over three miles on Saturday.

“He’s in good form, we were a bit disappointed by how far he was beaten the last day but hopefully we have our reasons,” said Nolan.

“Hopefully he’ll jump well and run a nice race, we’ll know a lot more after Saturday.”

Reflecting on the Punchestown run, the form from which is varied as Favori De Champdou was well beaten next time out yet Quilixios won comfortably, Nolan added: “There were a couple of fences that he was perhaps a little bit scratchy at, but I thought he was far better the last day than he was the first day and he looked like he enjoyed himself far more.

“We were way happier with his jumping than the first day so it was definitely a step forward, but when you’re beaten a long way you always start asking questions.

“That can happen at times, horses can perform out of their skin on certain days and that might be totally reversed the next day.

“You can’t read too much into other horses, you have to concentrate on what you have yourself.

“He’s the best we have so we’ll concentrate on him and find the race we think is most suitable for him.

“That’s what we’re doing, we’ll creep before we walk and see where it will take us.”

Kerry Lee’s Nemean Lion has a whole host of options open to him after coming home the runner-up in the Lanzarote Handicap Hurdle.

The seven-year-old began his season by winning the Welsh Champion Hurdle, a length-and-a-half success that then led him to Greatwood at Cheltenham where he was fifth under the burden of 12st.

In the Lanzarote only one of his 18 rivals shouldered more weight than him and under Richard Patrick he produced another fine run to go down by a length and a quarter to Dan Skelton’s Jay Jay Reilly.

The run was a step up to two miles and five furlongs for the gelding and provided ample proof that the extended trip was to his liking, leaving an array of hurdle races open to him as the season progresses.

“I was absolutely delighted with him, these big handicaps are a lottery and he was giving away a lot of weight,” said Lee.

“I think he’s run incredibly well, I’m very proud of him.

“He’s given us a lot more options after that, we can really shop around for which way to go now.”

Nemean Lion was a well-regarded performer on the Flat before joining Lee, finishing second in the Group Two Prix Chaudenay on his final start for Andre Fabre in 2020.

Over two years off the track followed due to injury and while soft ground is not mandatory, Lee is naturally mindful of preserving the horse’s soundness after waiting so long to campaign him under the National Hunt code.

“I think he’s proven that he doesn’t need soft ground, it’s just that he is so fragile,” she said.

“When a horse has had two years off the track, you’ve got to respect that they’ve had an injury that could recur if you run them on the wrong ground.

“I’m very careful with him, I thought the ground at Kempton was absolutely beautiful and I walk the track every time before running him – or not as the case may be.”

Nemean Lion, who is by Golden Horn, holds entries in a host of races including the two key hurdle events at the Cheltenham Festival, though the Stayers’ is now more likely than the Champion Hurdle after his performance at Kempton.

“We’ve got to look at all our options, literally every single one of them, and get our heads together based on how the horse comes out of the race,” said Lee.

“We’ll look at everything, he has a cheeky entry in the Stayers’ and I think that would be a more likely option now than the Champion Hurdle – exciting times.”

An emotional Iga Swiatek survived a major scare to reach the third round of the Australian Open but Elena Rybakina was beaten by Anna Blinkova in a record-breaking encounter.

Swiatek lost to Danielle Collins in the semi-finals in Melbourne two years ago and it appeared history was about to repeat itself when the American took a 4-1 lead over the world number one in the deciding set under the roof on Rod Laver Arena.

But Swiatek responded with five games in a row to claim a 6-4 3-6 6-4 victory and set up a clash with Czech teenager Linda Noskova.

The Pole sobbed into her towel at the end of the match and she said with a relieved smile: “I was at the airport already.

“I wanted to fight until the end. She played perfectly so I knew it would be hard for anybody to maintain that level. I waited for the mistakes to come. I’m really proud of myself because it wasn’t easy.”

Rybakina, the third seed and last year’s beaten finalist, also appeared like she might escape after saving two match points to force a tie-break against 57th-ranked Blinkova.

But, more than half an hour later, Blinkova finally clinched a 6-4 4-6 7-6 (22/20) victory on her 10th match point, with Rybakina having seen six opportunities go begging.

It was the longest tie-break in a singles match in grand slam history.

For Blinkova, it is also the biggest win of her career, and she said: “I don’t know what to say. It was super tough. I just tried to stay focused on every point.

“I had so many match points. I tried to be aggressive at these moments but my hand was shaking and my legs too. I tried to be calm as hard as I could and I’m super happy to win in the end.

“This day I will remember for the rest of my life. Especially on this court, with this crowd. I will never forget it. It’s the best day of my life so far.”

After her defeat by Swiatek, Collins walked straight off court into the press room, where she revealed this will be her final season.

“I don’t really know exactly when (I will stop) but this will be my last season and I’m really looking forward to that,” said the 30-year-old, who also made the semi-finals in Melbourne in 2019 and reached a career-high ranking of seven.

“I have other things that I’d like to accomplish in my life outside of tennis and would like to be able to have the time to be able to do that. Obviously having kids is a big priority for me.”

Swiatek edged a tight first set disrupted by a brief rain break but the aggression of Collins was troubling the top seed and the American, who also made the semi-finals here in 2019, won five games in a row to take a 5-1 lead in the second set.

She showed nerves, hitting four double faults as she failed to serve it out at the first time of asking, but she was rock solid on her second opportunity.

Swiatek found returns drilled back at her feet and she was staring at the exit door when Collins broke serve twice in succession to lead 4-1 in the deciding set.

However, the American tightened up with the finish line in sight and Swiatek came roaring back, clinching victory on her third match point with a backhand into the corner.

Swiatek applied strapping under her left knee at the start of the third set, but she played down concerns, saying: “I’ve been struggling a little bit with my knee since (the WTA Finals in) Cancun. I have ups and downs but it’s not like it affects my game. You don’t have to be worried.”

On a day of high drama at Melbourne Park, fifth seed Jessica Pegula was also ousted, going down 6-4 6-2 to France’s Clara Burel, while former finalist Sloane Stephens beat 14th seed Daria Kasatkina 4-6 6-3 6-3.

Emma Raducanu struggled with a stomach bug during a marathon second-round loss to Wang Yafan at the Australian Open.

The former US Open champion, playing only her fourth match since returning from eight months out and three surgeries, had battled back strongly from a set and a break down to force a decider.

But Raducanu then began to show a lot of discomfort, clutching at her chest and abdomen before calling the trainer two games in.

She had her blood pressure checked and took some pills before resuming, and she battled hard to try to turn the match around but Wang held firm to win 6-4 4-6 6-4 after two hours and 55 minutes.

It appeared Raducanu was struggling with her breathing but she revealed in her press conference that she was feeling sick having gone into the contest under the weather.

“I think I just had a bit of a stomach bug beforehand,” she said. “Now I feel a little bit better. I had some time.

“During the match, third set I was 30-0 up serving. Then all of a sudden I just felt so sick, just really weak and nauseous. Throughout the third set I think everyone could see it was a bit of a battle.

“Like physically, body-wise, I felt fine. It was more I was throwing up in my mouth. Then after the match, it came out. Now I’m OK. I’ll get over it. It just sucks with the timing.

“I was actually feeling good about my tennis. Mentally, I don’t know why, I just felt really composed the entire time. Even in the first set when I was making a ton of errors with the wind, I kind of always had this feeling that I was coming back, just tidy up the errors. I felt pretty composed throughout.”

Raducanu is no stranger to medical time-outs and retirements but she was determined to keep going this time.

“I’ve been in that situation before in matches, whether it was with illness or injury, and retired a few times,” she said.

“With what I went through last year, you feel awful right now, at some points I couldn’t really see the ball very well, but I think it’s made me so much tougher. There was no way I was going to pull out. She was going to have to beat me, and she did. She served it out.”

Raducanu’s exit followed those of Katie Boulter and Jack Draper and means Cameron Norrie, who battled from two sets down earlier to beat Giulio Zeppieri, is the only British player through to the third round.

Raducanu comfortably won her first-round match against Shelby Rogers, but the American looked very rusty after a long break herself which made it difficult to gauge the 21-year-old’s true level.

This was a much bigger test, with Wang a former top-50 player now ranked 94 who is still working her way back up the game after choosing not to travel amid China’s restrictive Covid policies.

The 29-year-old’s game initially held up better than Raducanu’s in the breezy conditions and she looked in control at one set and 2-0 up, at which point the British player cut down her errors and fought her way back into the contest.

She broke to lead 5-3 with a sizzling cross-court winner but tentativeness crept in as she tried to serve out the set, with two chances going begging.

Raducanu did not let the disappointment affect her, though, and refused to be hesitant when more chances arrived on Wang’s serve, drilling a backhand winner to clinch a mammoth 65-minute set.

At that stage it appeared Raducanu was the favourite but her physical issues quickly became apparent and she was unable to turn the match back around in her favour.

She leaves Australia greatly encouraged for what is to come, though, saying: “There were doubts whether I would be able to make the Australian Open trip.

“I think that to be here is a bonus, a good starting point I would say, because I started putting good practice sessions together with (coach) Nick (Cavaday), we’re doing good work off the court.

“I’m feeling very positive. I really just want to play a full season. The encouraging thing is, even though I played two back-to-back three-setters in Auckland, a three-setter today, body-wise, strength-wise, I didn’t come up with any random niggles.

“It was just me throwing up. That’s fine. That’s not normal, but it’s like a one-off.”