Coco Gauff battled past Emma Raducanu 6-3 7-6(4) on Wednesday to reach the third round of the Australian Open, but not before the two prodigies offered fans a good glimpse of what the future of women’s tennis could look like after an absorbing first clash.
A lot is expected of French Open runner-up Gauff, who at 18 is two years younger than Raducanu but has not tasted the Grand Slam success the Briton did as a teenager, and the seventh seed saved three breakpoints to win a first set she controlled. Handed a prime-time slot on Rod Laver Arena following the retirements last year of champion Ash Barty and 23-times major winner Serena Williams, the torch-bearers of a new era pushed each other hard before Gauff edged ahead in the second set.
Having returned from an ankle injury suffered in a warm-up event in Auckland, Raducanu was troubled by an abs problem after being broken at 2-1 and Gauff pounced, before fending off a late fightback by the 2021 Flushing Meadows champion to prevail.
Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal, who has been struggling with injury, suffered a shock second-round exit as the American Mackenzie McDonald eliminated the defending champion in straight sets, and the Spaniard said afterwards that he was feeling “mentally destroyed”.
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