It was a successful return to the Grand Slam stage for Britain's Emma Raducanu on Tuesday as she overcame America's Shelby Rogers in straight sets to win her first-round match at the 2024 Australian Open.
It was Raducanu's first Grand Slam appearance since last year's Australian Open as wrist and ankle surgeries kept her out for a large part of the 2023 season.
There were slight concerns going into the tournament for the 2021 US Open Women's Singles Champion as she had played just two games since her surgeries and was forced to pull out of two exhibition matches in the lead-up to the tournament.
However, Raducanu put away any doubts over her performance levels in her opening round match as she struck with a break in the fourth game of the opening set. The 21-year-old maintained her composure and served out to win the first set 6-3.
From there, Raducanu dominated the contest as she broke Rogers in the opening game of the second set before another break in the fifth game. The Brit then served out to clinch the second set 6-2 and secure an opening-round victory in Melbourne.
After the match, Raducanu reflected on her display, commenting: "I'm very happy to have come through that. I think being my first Grand Slam match back, it is definitely a little bit extra sweet."
The Brit went on to say: "I think the time away made me very hungry. It's amazing to be healthy again and pain-free with the wrists. I honestly didn't know if I'd ever get to this stage, I had pain for so long."
Coming up next for Raducanu is a second-round matchup with China's Wang Yafan on Thursday. Yafan overcame the 22nd seed, Sorana Cirstea, on Tuesday, as she recovered from losing the opening set 6-0, by winning the next two sets 7-5 6-2 to advance.
British number one Katie Boulter was also victorious on Tuesday, but she had to navigate herself through a tricky contest with Yue Yuan. Boulter was broken in the opening game of the match but broke Yuan right back in the following game.
Both players broke one another again in the opening set before Boulter landed another break in the eleventh game to go up 6-5. The Brit then maintained her serve to win the first set 7-5.
In the second set, Boulter had the chance to clinch the match as she was serving whilst 5-4 up, but she failed to convert two match points and Yuan struck with a break to level the set. A tiebreaker was eventually required to decide the second set and Boulter won it with ease as she won the first five points before clinching the set 7-6 (7-1).
The British number one will take on another Chinese opponent next, as she is scheduled to face the 12th seed, Qinwen Zheng, in the second round on Thursday. Boulter will play against Raducanu in the third round providing they both win their respective second-round matches.
Other women's singles matchups on Tuesday included the number one seed, Iga Swiatek, beating Sofia Kenin 7-6 (7-2) 6-2, whilst the third seed, Elena Rybakina, defeated Karolina Pliskova, 7-6 (8-6) 6-4.
Tuesday's matches in the men's singles included British number one and the 19th seed, Cameron Norrie, beating Juan Pablo Varillas 6-4 6-4 6-2 and Britain's Jack Draper pulling off a five-set win over Marcos Giron, as he triumphed 6-4 3-6 4-6 6-0 6-2. On Thursday, Norrie will face Giulio Zeppieri and Draper will be in action against the 14th seed, Tommy Paul.
However, Britain's Dan Evans exited in the first round as despite winning the opening set 6-4 against Lorenzo Sonego, he went on to lose the next three 7-6 (10-8) 6-2 7-6 (7-4).
Second seed, Carlos Alcaraz, was also victorious on Tuesday as he won his first-round matchup with Richard Gasquet 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 6-2. The Spaniard will go up against Sonego on Thursday in the second round.
