MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Britain’s Emma Raducanu claimed a Grand Slam trophy even earlier than she performed a serious champion however the 19-year-old may face a frightening activity on her Australian Open debut when she meets former U.S. Open winner Sloane Stephens on Tuesday.
Raducanu grew to become the primary qualifier to win a Grand Slam within the Open period when she defeated Leylah Fernandez in New York final September however the teenager has struggled to copy the identical type since, with early losses at Indian Wells and Linz.
She additionally contracted COVID-19 late final 12 months and pulled out of the Australian Open warm-up event in Melbourne, earlier than an early defeat nL1N2TR0PS by Elena Rybakina in Sydney however Raducanu stated she was not slowed down by disappointing outcomes.
“I feel it will be a troublesome match for certain. I’m going to go on the market and benefit from the match as a result of simply enjoying on this Grand Slam, I needed to work so exhausting to be right here. Yeah, I’ll simply go on the market and revel in,” Raducanu stated forward of Tuesday’s contest.
Three former French Open champions are additionally in motion on the primary showcourts at Melbourne Park, as Spaniard Garbine Muguruza takes on Clara Burel, Poland’s Iga Swiatek performs Harriet Dart and Romanian Simona Halep faces Magdalena Frech.
Among the lads, Russian second seed Daniil Medvedev takes on Swiss Henri Laaksonen on Rod Laver Arena, whereas fourth-seeded Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas performs Swede Mikael Ymer. Russia’s Andrey Rublev can also be in motion against Italian Gianluca Mager.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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