Emma Raducanu’s Australian Open draw is anything but straightforward ...Middle East

MELBOURNE — Emma Raducanu will have to produce some of her best tennis after being handed a tricky Australian Open draw.

The world No 60 will face the 26th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in the first round next week and could, if she makes it that far, come up against Iga Swiatek in the third.

Raducanu, 22, has been battling a back injury in the early part of 2025 but is expected to make the startline for the first major of the year.

She reached the second round here 12 months ago, meaning the 2021 US Open champion will need to match that achievement to at least maintain her current ranking.

First and foremost, Raducanu will be desperate to start the tournament fit and ready. She was forced to pull out of her planned appearance in Auckland last week with a back problem that has hampered her pre-season programme, but has trained four days in a row this week before a planned rest day on Thursday.

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She has been drawn against Alexandrova before too. Raducanu was due to face the Russian No 6 in the first round of Wimbledon in 2024, but she pulled out at the last minute citing illness and was replaced by lucky loser Renata Zarazua.

The Brit dispatched her late replacement in straight sets but cannot rely on such good fortune once again.

Alexandrova’s recent form may suggest she is not playing at the level of a top-30 player though: she lost first round in Brisbane to Ons Jabeur, winning just five games, and then was beaten in the second round of the Adelaide International by Emma Navarro.

She can get hot though. Alexandrova shocked Iga Swiatek in Miami nine months ago by playing ultra-aggressively and hitting big serves to defeat the pole 6-4, 6-2. A similar strategy may be in order against Raducanu.

If she can come through that, she could find herself up against an even more powerful opponent in Amanda Anisimova, although the American did pull out of her quarter-final in Hobart on Thursday with an injury.

Brits in the first round

Men’s

Women’s

Raducanu’s other possible second-round opponent is Maria Lourdes Carle, whom she has faced before. The Argentinian handed Raducanu a 6-2, 6-2 loss in the first round of Madrid last year, suggesting afterwards she was tired despite a light schedule leading up to it, and the performance was heavily criticised by Billie Jean King Cup captain Anne Keothavong.

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“She’s made a meal of this match. She touched on the fact that ‘yes, I’m tired’ but do you talk yourself into more tiredness? On the one hand it’s good to acknowledge it but if you are going to go out on the match court you’ve got to be prepared to leave it all out there,” Keothavong said at the time.

“Those last few points, that’s just not good enough. That’s poor. You can’t emotionally check out.”

That was though on Spanish clay, Raducanu’s least favourite surface and Carle’s best: a fast hard court in Australia is much more the Brit’s style.

And with Swiatek perhaps waiting in the last 32, motivation should not be an issue.

Few easy draws for the Brits

The draw gods in Melbourne did their best to make life hard for her compatriots, but British No 1 Katie Boulter got the best of it and she fancy her chances of a first-ever run to the fourth round of a grand slam.

Boulter, seeded 22nd, will face Rebecca Marino of Canada in her first round and then either home favourite Olivia Gadecki or Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova.

The Brit has already beaten Gadecki this season, triumphing in the United Cup, and Kudermetova has not won a grand slam singles match since Wimbledon 2023.

Even Boulter’s slated opponent in the third round, No 15 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia, suffered cramp so bad she had to serve under-arm during the United Cup, and was beaten 6-2, 6-1 in her last pre-Australian Open match.

Elsewhere, Sonay Kartal will make her Melbourne main draw debut against Jessica Bouzas Maneiro with defending champion Aryna Sabalenka perhaps waiting in the second round, while Jodie Burrage will play a qualifier or lucky loser, and the victor can expect to play Coco Gauff.

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