Emma Raducanu says she has smoothed things over with Andy Murray after their unfortunate falling out at last summer’s Wimbledon.

Speaking after her second-round win over Amanda Anisimova at the Australian Open, Raducanu revealed that she had sent Murray “a long message basically apologising if I caused any trouble at Wimbledon. That’s definitely the last thing I want.”

To sketch in some history, Raducanu originally agreed to play mixed doubles with Murray in what would have been his last appearance at Wimbledon. But she pulled out on the morning of the match, saying that she had woken up with stiffness in her wrist. Posting on social media, Murray’s mother Judy called the decision “astonishing”.

The two former US Open champions have barely crossed paths since then. Raducanu thinks they might have said “Hello” once at the National Tennis Centre in south-west London, but that was about the limit of it.

Then, on Thursday, they bumped into each other in the player areas at Melbourne Park, shortly after Raducanu’s gutsy 6-3, 7-5 victory over world No 35 Amanda Anisimova.

“I saw Andy today, and he said, ‘Well done,’ and congratulated me,” Raducanu explained. “That was really nice. He’s someone that I look up to a lot. So it’s good to have that pat on the back from him.”

Asked if she had wanted to resolve any lingering issues with Murray, Raducanu replied “Big time. Whether or not I can go back and turn back time and do things differently, that’s in the past. All I can do is evaluate that and learn going forwards.

“And I wanted to take the initiative because, growing up, he was one of my idols, and he still is, with everything he’s achieved in the game, coming from the UK and the same system and everything.

“I don’t want any bad blood or harsh feelings with him. I sent him a long message and he took it really well and responded saying he was disappointed but he understood. We’re fine now. We walk past each other and say ‘Hello’, ‘Well done’. It’s obviously really cool seeing him with Novak [Djokovic] here as well. Two great champions and they’re just together, it’s pretty awesome.”

Raducanu laughed as she concluded by joking, “I just hope he doesn’t hate me too much.”

Raducanu was in an upbeat mood on Thursday, and understandably so. She had just battled through a difficult second round encounter with Anisimova, who hits one of the biggest balls on the women’s tour.

After a good deal of defensive scrambling around the court, she needed a medical time-out for attention to her hips and lower back. But her tenacity and dexterity came to the fore, efficiently defusing her opponent’s power game. In the end, Anisimova became Amiss-inova, clocking up 44 unforced errors in the match. (For context, Raducanu hit only 17.)

During her post-match press conference, Raducanu said that some physical discomfort was only natural when you haven’t competed in almost two months. “To have two really physical [matches], I think small niggles are going to come up here and there. Yeah, I was able to push past some pain today.”

Raducanu put her hands on her head in disbelief after converting her first match point via a typically crafty shot: a low, skidding, curving slice that Anisimova couldn’t handle. Her retrieval game was outstanding throughout, and she said she felt stronger on the stretch because of the work she has been doing with her new full-time fitness trainer, Yutaka Nakamura.

At the conclusion of a victory which occupied just under two hours, Raducanu gave a delighted on-court interview in which she called the Australian Open “the slam I love playing at”. It’s always good to flatter the locals.

Raducanu has not fared particularly well at the overseas slams since her historic victory at the 2021 US Open. This is the first time she has reached the last 32 of a major outside Wimbledon in more than three years, in which time her record stands at 50-50: seven wins from 14 matches.

Her tournament doesn’t get any easier from here, however. Her next opponent, on Saturday, will be world No 2 and five-time grand-slam champion Iga Swiatek.

“I’ll probably just take it easy tomorrow [and] have a light hit,” said Raducanu when asked if she had any concerns about that sore back. “Nothing crazy. I’ve played a lot of tennis today and two days ago, so I don’t think I need to overdo it on the practice court. I can feel it a bit, but I still have some time.”