Emma Raducanu overcame serving woes to upset 26th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova and reach the second round of the Australian Open. The 22-year-old hit 15 double faults but edged an erratic match to post her best win at Melbourne Park, seeing off 31st-ranked Russian Alexandrova 7-6 (4) 7-6 (2).
Raducanu’s victory made it five British players through to the second round, equalling the record here with more chances to come. She will try to reach the third round for the first time and will next take on fellow teenage prodigy Amanda Anisimova, who has taken time out of the game for her mental health.
Raducanu’s enduring popularity was evidenced by big queues outside Court 3 as the match began under a cloudless Melbourne sky. The former US Open champion’s serve is a work in progress and her first two service games saw her produce five aces and four double faults.
From there the balance skewed to the negative side and heading into the tie-break she was winning fewer than 10 per cent of points on her second serve, while her double fault count had hit nine, including three in one game at 4-4. Alexandrova, a big ball striker with a relentlessly negative demeanour, broke serve four times in a row but holding her own delivery proved equally challenging, with Raducanu’s return game in good shape.
