Emma Raducanu discovered she has a new nickname at the Australian Open as the British No 1 overcame a slow start to cruise into the second round with a straight-sets win over Thailand’s Mananchaya Sawangkaew.
Raducanu only arrived at the Australian Open shortly before the tournament, following an off-season that had been disrupted by injury and a shock defeat at the Hobart International just a few days ago, and the former US Open champion was frustrated to be scheduled late on the opening day of play.
The 23-year-old praised Thailand’s Sawangkaew, the world No 195, as she raced into an early lead on her grand slam main draw debut. Sawangkaew had two points to establish a double-break and 4-1 lead in the opening set, only for Raducanu to surge back and advance thanks to a 6-4 6-1 victory.
Afterwards, Raducanu gave a shout-out to a local fan in the crowd who had cheered her on by yelling “Raddo” and the British No 1 wrote her new nickname on the courtside camera after the win.
“Apparently, Down Under I’ve got Raddo,” she said. “Never heard that before. Pretty original. Obviously, I loved the support. I thought it was great on both sides. To have that on my side, in the big moments, it was a good spur of encouragement. I said he can come to any match. I just need to try to locate him. I hope he comes back.”
Raducanu said she was proud of how she had overturned Sawangkaew’s fast start, in what was just her fourth match of the new season after being limited during the off-season due to a foot injury. With world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka a possible opponent in the third round, Raducanu is getting up to speed quickly.
“I came out here having not played any practice points,” said the 28th seed, who will play the Russian-born Anastasia Potapova in the second round. My match with [Maria] Sakkari [at the United Cup] was pretty much the first practice that I played, which is pretty unheard of.
“I think having gone through that and having only had two weeks out here of playing and finding my feet, I’m happy with the level and happy with the speed at how I’ve found my feet on the match court.
“It gives me confidence that if I keep doing the right things, actually, I’m able to put chunks of work in, good blocks of practice, I can improve a lot more.”
Raducanu will also have two days off before returning to play Potapova, who has a career-high of 21 in the world, in the second round.
Raducanu was joined in the second round by Great Britain’s Arthur Fery, who claimed the first upset of the Australian Open as the 186-ranked qualifier knocked out 20th seed Flavio Cobolli in the first round.
The 23-year-old Fery, making his overseas grand slam debut, won 7-6 (1), 6-4, 6-1 to take out the rising star Cobolli, who took a medical timeout and was visited by the doctor as he struggled with a stomach bug.
The French-born won his first-round match at last year’s Wimbledon, also beating the 20th seed in Australia’s Alexei Popyrin, after receiving a wildcard into the tournament.
This time, Fery has now scored four victories so far in Melbourne, having come through from the first round of qualifying, and will take on Argentina’s Tomas Martín Etcheverry in the second round.
“It seems I like drawing 20th seeds at grand slams,” Fery laughed afterwards during his on-court interview. “I felt great. I felt very comfortable on that court. Obviously, playing three matches beforehand in quallies really helped.”
After qualifying for the main draw, Fery’s mum, former player Olivia Fery, flew out to Australia just in time for his match against Cobolli.
“When I won that last round, she asked me if she could come,” Fery said. “It's obviously a long way, but at least I made it worth it. She can see at least two matches, hopefully more.”
Cameron Norrie is also through to the second round after a battling five-set win over Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi. Norrie started out on fire, winning the opening set 6-0, but the British No 2 and 26th seed was forced to dig deep as Bonzi upped his level, eventually prevailing 6-0, 6-7 (2), 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Elsewhere, Venus Williams made history by stepping onto the court at the Australian Open, but was denied a winning return as Serbia’s Olga Danilovic won the final six games in a row to triumph in a three-set thriller.
At 45, Williams became the oldest woman to compete in the singles tournament after accepting a wildcard into the main draw. The seven-time grand slam champion, who returned to Melbourne for the first time in five years, started well and delighted the crowd by ripping a stunning forehand winner to take the first set on a tiebreak.
Danilovic hit back to win the second set and level the match but Williams looked to be on course for victory, and a first win at a grand slam singles match since the 2021 Wimbledon, as she took a 4-0 lead in the final set.
But Danilovic, 24, stormed back to deny Williams a place in the second-round, winning 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4. Williams, who first played at the Australian Open in 1998, when she was 17, received a standing ovation as she left the court but she will also be entering the doubles tournament with Ekaterina Alexandrova.
Alexandrova, the 11th seed in the singles, became the biggest casualty of the opening defeat after losing to Turkish qualifier Zeynep Sonmez, while the in-form 20th seed Marta Kostyuk, who reached the final of the Brisbane warm-up event, was eliminated 6-7 7-6 7-6 by Elsa Jacquemot.
