Well saved by Coco Gauff!

An ace and then a brave second serve see her reach the temporary safety of deuce.

CoCo Vandeweghe
Two-time Grand Slam semi-finalist on Radio 5 Sports Extra

What Emma has to get used to really quickly is that Rod Laver Arena is the slowest court in Melbourne. She has to find her timing, find her shots and get her feet moving quickly.

Body serves are always a really good play to find your range. As quick as Coco is, for her to get out of the way is going to be really difficult.

Emma puts her whole body weight into her forehand - she gets right into the air when she is hitting those.

Some good returning from Emma Raducanu, who gets stuck into the Coco Gauff serve.

Her positive play quickly becomes a great opportunity. A big forehand down the line is too much for Gauff. Two break points!

Jonathan Jurejko
BBC Sport at Melbourne Park

Image source, BBC Sport

Quite an eerie atmosphere as the umpire presses play on what we all hope is a blockbuster.

Hazy smoke from the pyrotechnics which accompanied the pre-match show - some homogenous singer-guitarist who you'd see in your local pub offering live music - lingers above the court.

The only potential storm on Rod Laver Arena tonight will be the tennis because a) the roof is closed and b) the weather outside is less volatile than it was earlier.

Emma Raducanu settles in, landing some heavy hits from the baseline before welcoming the error from Coco Gauff for game point. Another miss from the American takes Raducanu to safety and that's a good recovery from that opening double fault.

Not such a confident start for Emma Raducanu, who begins on serve with a double fault.

She then misses another first serve before sending a forehand long, but she's on the board as Coco Gauff returns a good second serve into the net.

Russell Fuller
Tennis correspondent at Melbourne Park

There is a huge difference to the Emma Raducanu that we are seeing now compared to last year. At the US Open that she won, it was very free, she was a delight in the press confeernce but there is no question for the first four months of last year it was uncomfortable.

But she has been very happy and seemingly full of optimism.

She seems very relaxed and if I was Coco Gauff I would be very worried because a relaxed Raducanu is a very dangerous player.

But Raducanu has never neaten a Top 10 player.

Coco Gauff makes a strong start as some solid early serving takes her to 40-0 before she drops a forehand into the net. That's as good as it gets for Emma Raducanu in game one. A confident start by the American 18-year-old.

Ready? Coco Gauff will serve first in this exciting second round match-up. Rod Laver Arena falls silent. This should be good.

Image source, Getty Images

Emma Raducanu is attempting to reach the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time since winning the 2021 US Open.

Standing in her way is Coco Gauff, the youngest seed at the tournament, who warmed up for Melbourne by winning her third career singles title in Auckland.

The American has won six successive matches and a win today would be her 100th WTA main draw victory.

Image source, Getty Images

Coco Gauff is considered among the favourites for the tournament and began her Australian Open with a 6-1 6-4 victory over Czech Katerina Siniakova.

"I talk to her pretty much at all the tournaments," Gauff said of Raducanu. "I didn't really know her that well in juniors, but I've got to talk to her more on tour now.

"Obviously she's gone through a lot of pressure, bursting on to the scene. I feel like probably more than I have experienced coming to win a Slam.

"And especially I feel like being from the UK, being the first British person to do something in a long time, probably is a lot more pressure than what I'm used to, being an American."

Image source, Getty Images

Emma Raducanu beat German Tamara Korpatsch 6-3 6-2 on her return to court, despite her pre-tournament injury scare.

"It's going to be a great match," said Raducanu.

"Coco has obviously done a lot of great things and she's playing well.

"I think we're both good, young players.

"We're both coming through, part of the next generation of tennis, really."

Image source, Getty Images

Here come the players now. Emma Raducanu will head out on to court first and gives a wave to the crowd. Behind her, Coco Gauff enters with her headphones on and looks focused.

Not long to go until the action is under way.

Jonathan Jurejko
BBC Sport at Melbourne Park

Image source, BBC Sport

Coco Gauff is the latest leading WTA Tour player to write a BBC Sport column and, in her second piece at the Australian Open, she discusses how she hopes spending time in the boxing gym can help her beat Emma Raducanu and achieve her ultimate goal of landing a Grand Slam title.

"My fitness trainer wanted me to box to help improve balance and so I went down to a gym near where I live in Florida," says the 18-year-old American.

"I'm not a fighter - even though I have trained in the past with Mike Tyson. If someone came up and punched me I would be out first punch!"

Read Coco's full column here.

Image source, Getty Images

Despite many similarities so far in the early stages of their careers, this is the first meeting between Britain's Emma Raducanu and American Coco Gauff.

Raducanu, 20, and the 18-year-old world number seven Gauff's eagerly anticipated second-round match headlines the day three night session on Rod Laver Arena.

Aged 15, Gauff became the youngest female to qualify for the main draw at Wimbledon in 2019 - the same tournament where, in 2021, an 18-year-old Raducanu announced herself with a run to the fourth round.

And while Raducanu stunned the sport with her triumph at the US Open in just her second Grand Slam appearance while Gauff, already established on the WTA Tour, reached her first major final at the French Open last year.

I wonder how Andy Murray is feeling today?

The five-time finalist said he is "incredibly proud" of his thrilling Australian Open first-round win over Italian 13th seed Matteo Berrettini yesterday.

He also said he'll be "feeling this tomorrow" after the match went to five sets and a deciding tie-break at the Rod Laver Arena.

BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

You can hear more on Tennis Breakfast over on Radio 5 Sports Extra.

Just listen on BBC Sounds or click on the icon at the top of this page.

BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

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More from Tommy Robredo on his friend and team-mate Rafael Nadal: "The hard court is more aggressive and when he plays on clay with his top spin he is more confident and he has more chance to win.

"You can slide on the court and not stop suddenly and change. Obviously he has been practicing harder and maybe he over trained and was a little stiff in the muscles.

"It shows he was not 100% ready, and there was a lot of intensity in his family life. Maybe he's sleeping less - everyone who is a dad knows this can happen."

On battling with Novak Djokovic to win the most Slam titles: "When you lose a match you are not happy. When you lose a match and you have an injury you are completely destroyed. But that is the sport life.

"He is a great sportsman and tomorrow he will be thinking about what he has to do to recover."

BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

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Rafael Nadal's compatriot and Davis Cup team-mate Tommy Robredo joined the Tennis Breakfast team, and this is what he had to say:

"It seems that the hip is affected. He was always having the dream to win in Australia. He is playing for Grand Slams and to be the best of all time. He was trying hard to be in good shape and it is a shame he couldn't finish the match."

On Nadal's future in the sport: "Nobody knows [how much time he has got left]. Every time he is in a press conference everyone is asking him when he is going to retire and he deserves to retire whenever he wants.

"He has a lot of chance to win in Paris, and he knows it. If he goes to Paris in good shape he has a chance. He needs to win a couple of matches to win his confidence again. I don't know if it means [he can] win Grand Slams again.

"He will have to get his calendar very closely with the team, maybe he will start on clay starting in Monte Carlo."

Image source, get

Yes, the headline news this morning is that Rafael Nadal's Australian Open title defence is over after a second-round defeat by American Mackenzie McDonald in which he struggled with an injury.

The Spaniard, 36, was trailing by a set and a break when he pulled up with what appeared to be a hip problem. He took a medical timeout towards the end of the second set and continued with the match.

But he ultimately slipped to a 6-4 6-3 7-5 defeat, suffering his earliest exit at the Australian Open since 2016.

Read more here.