Emma Raducanu’s efforts to be seeded for the Australian Open may have secured lower-ranked opposition in the early stages, but beyond that the luck of the draw did not fall in her favour with a potential third-round match against the world No1 Aryna Sabalenka.
Raducanu had made it one of her main goals last season to ensure a seeding at future grand-slam tournaments. This was to try and avoid facing top players such as Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek during the first week, and she was rightly content to finish the year inside the world’s top 30.
With a seeding position of No28 in Thursday’s draw at Melbourne Park Raducanu was given an opening match against the world No195 Mananchaya Sawangkaew. If she wins that, either Anastasia Potapova, ranked No54, or Suzan Lamens, ranked No95, will await in the second round.
Raducanu impressed in two matches against the Belarusian last year but her record against the top eight remains poor
TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER BRADLEY ORMESHER
Raducanu’s seeding group meant she was always guaranteed to be projected against a top-eight player in the third round but she was given the toughest task possible. Sabalenka won two of her four grand-slam titles here in 2023 and 2024, and came close to the hat-trick last year before narrowly losing a three-set final against Madison Keys.
Although Raducanu’s record against top-eight opposition is dismal, with one win in 17 matches, she did make some noticeable improvements against Sabalenka last year. A competitive straight-sets defeat in the third round at Wimbledon in July was followed by an agonising loss in the deciding third-set tie-break of a third-round match at the Cincinnati Open a month later.
Raducanu’s warm-up schedule for the Australian Open came to an end on Thursday with a quarter-final loss at the Hobart International. A 6-2, 6-4 defeat by Taylah Preston, an Australian wild card ranked No204, would normally make for some concern but there was a feeling that Raducanu is better off getting out of Hobart because of the poor weather conditions. As in her opener, this contest was interrupted by rain and it seems more optimal that Raducanu can now focus on practice in Melbourne before her first-round match against Sawangkaew.
Preston broke Raducanu’s serve six times on her way to a straight-sets win
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This could be a trickier test than it looks on paper. While Sawangkaew has a lowly ranking at present, it does not give a true indicator of her level as she missed most of the second half of 2025 with injury. A protected ranking of No100, the career-high position she reached last June, was used for direct entry to the first grand-slam event of 2026.
Sawangkaew also arrives here with momentum. Last month the 23-year-old from Thailand finished runner-up at the Southeast Asian Games, losing to Alexandra Eala in the final, before starting this year with a title on the lower tiers at an International Tennis Federation tournament in her home nation. She did not drop a set in five matches.
Katie Boulter received the toughest first-round draw of the four British females in the hat. Presently ranked No113, she is fortunate to be in the main draw as an alternate after several withdrawals, but the No10 seed Belinda Bencic will be a tough nut to crack. Sonay Kartal plays the No31 seed Anna Kalinskaya, while Francesca Jones faces the qualifier Linda Klimovicova.
Williams is playing the Australian Open for the first time since 2021 after being given a wild card
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There is potential for a fascinating match-up in the second round. If Venus Williams, the oldest women’s singles player in Australian Open history at 45 years old, can overcome the world No68 Olga Danilovic, she will likely face her American compatriot Coco Gauff in a contest which would have a 24-year age difference.
In the absence of Jack Draper, who has been out for close to five months with an arm injury, Cameron Norrie takes up the status of British No1 in the men’s draw. Seeded No26, he faces the world No106 Benjamin Bonzi in the first round and has a possible third-round match against the No3 seed Alexander Zverev.
There are a total of three British representatives in the men’s singles. Jacob Fearnley opens his tournament against Kamil Majchrzak, while 23-year-old Arthur Fery plays the No20 seed Flavio Cobolli after successfully qualifying for an overseas grand-slam tournament for the first time.
Novak Djokovic opens another bid for a record 25th major singles title against Pedro Martínez and could face Jannik Sinner if he was to go on and reach the semi-finals, while Carlos Alcaraz begins his campaign to complete the career grand slam against Australia’s Adam Walton.
The Britons’ first-round opponentsWomen’s singles E Raducanu (28) v M Sawangkaew (Tha)K Boulter v B Bencic (Swi, 10)S Kartal v A Kalinskaya (Russ, 31)F Jones v L Klimovicova (Cze)Men’s singles C Norrie (26) v B Bonzi (Fra)J Fearnley v K Majchrzak (Pol)A Fery v F Cobolli (Ita, 20)