There had been fears ahead of the match that Raducanu would not shine on a surface that seems ill-suited to her talents. But although she was far from perfect – particularly in terms of her movement early on and made seven double faults – she showed her tennis intellect in grinding down her 27-year-old opponent. Raducanu started well to take a 2-0 lead, but was drawn back as Martincova – showing the depth of Czech talent making her Billie Jean Cup debut at 27 of focused and benefitted from some of her eight double faults.

She broke the Czech’s serve seven times despite losing her three opening service games in the second set. Another interesting statistic was her 30 unforced errors compared to Martincova’s 47.

Where Dart had looked awkward, Raducanu – having spent time with highly rated Italian coach Riccardo Piatti to gain a crash course on clay – looked relatively comfortable. Piatti previously worked with Maria Sharapova in the latter stages of her career, a player whose adaptability was one of her greatest strengths, and Raducanu’s readiness to use her athleticism to slide around the court suggested that influence may have rubbed off.

‘It went a bit flat at the start of the second set’

“It definitely took some adjusting,” Raducanu said. “The conditions were very windy and a lot of bad bounces. To adjust and adapt in the situation was very challenging. I am very proud of how I dug in.

“At the beginning of the second set I went a bit flat. Everyone in the team had told me my intensity had dropped. It’s tough when you’re in the match and you feel like it is slipping away from you and you try to regain that. I am very happy I managed to come through in the end.”

At the start of the second set, it looked as if Martincova – would physically grind down Raducanu as she went 3-0 up, with the Briton visibly rattled. However, she used her breaks well,  refuelling regularly with bananas, and may even have been cheered by the court DJ playing Sweet Caroline, the song that was played after her US Open win.

She battled back into the second set with a good variation of shots and showed the composure that launched her meteoric rise over the past year, even at one point asking the umpires to hush the partisan local crowd, some of whom were beating drums when she was serving to stop.

Utilising her backhand down the line well, she was able to close the match out with the minimum of fuss and now as the draw stands faces the tougher challenge of Vondrousova in tomorrow’s rubber but captain Anne Keothavong who described Raducanu as “gutsy” said mischievously as with the tournament’s rule as captain she could make a change. But after Raducanu looked like she was returning to form, it is hard not to see her play a critical role as Great Britain fought for a place in November’s finals.