Australian Open: Raducanu wins in straight sets on Grand Slam return
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Raducanu has won in the first round of the Australian Open on all three of her appearances at Melbourne Park
Emma Raducanu is through to the second round of the Australian Open after wining in straight-sets in Melbourne.
The 21-year-old tennis player beat American Shelby Rogers 6-3 6-2 on her return to Grand Slam action.
The former British number one has struggled with injuries and form since her 2021 US Open title victory and is currently ranked 296 in the world.
Making her first appearance at a Grand Slam tournament for 12 months, Raducanu walked off the court with a huge smile on her face as she waved to the crowd.
Watching the match and speaking on BBC radio 5 Live, former US tennis payer, Chanda Rubin said: "You can see the big smile on Emma Raducanu's face, the joy. Very deserved, she played a terrific match."
The 2021 US Open champion returned to action earlier this month at the ASB Classic tournament in Auckland, New Zealand.
Before that, injuries had meant Raducanu had missed nearly eight months of tennis and hadn't played since April, following three operations on both of her wrists and her ankle last year.
Raducanu will play China's Wang Yafan in the second round at the Australian Open on Thursday.
Raducanu could play British number one Katie Boulter in the third round
Katie Boulter, Jack Draper and Cameron Norrie also won first-round matches in Australia on Tuesday.
Raducanu and Boulter - who has taken over as Britain's highest-ranked woman - remain on course to meet each other in the third-round.
Emma Raducanu began playing tennis when she was five-years-old.
She started playing for Team GB juniors when she was 14 and in 2017, she made her first appearance at a junior grand slam event - Wimbledon. She became the British junior number one when she was 15.
In September 2021, Emma Raducanu made history when she became the first UK female to win one of tennis' big tournaments for more than 40 years. She also became the youngest British player to win a grand slam title at the US Open.
Her impressive performance at the competition saw her rise to British No.1 and inside the top-25 rankings for the first time.
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- Published7 December 2023
