Emma Raducanu faces Amanda Anisimova in Thursday's second-round encounter, bidding for a first-ever third-round appearance at the Australian Open.
Standing in the British player's path is Anisimova, whose oscillating results Down Under ended with her tournament-opening success over Maria Lourdes Carle.
Match preview
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Raducanu was pleasingly sincere about her first-round victory over Ekaterina Alexandrova, against whom she prevailed in two tie-breaks to notch a 7-6(4), 7-6(2) triumph.
The 22-year-old was far from perfect on her deliveries, double-faulting 15 times and losing serve six times on Tuesday.
Although she responded six times on her opponent's serve, converting six break-point opportunities from 10, she must play at a higher level to avoid another second-round exit.
The 2021 US Open champion might never have been eliminated in round one Down Under; however, she has never gone beyond the second round, losing to Danka Kovinic in 2022, Coco Gauff in 2023 and Yafan Wang 12 months ago.
Having come through her first competitive match of 2025, the former top-10 player aims to overcome her Australian Open second-round hoodoo at the fourth time of asking.
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Success is not assured against an opponent, who overcame Carle 6-2 6-3, despite leaning on her second serve more than she probably wanted.
The 23-year-old landed just 49% of her first deliveries against the Argentine, even though she won 63% of points when she did.
Nevertheless, the two-time champion had the edge on her opponent's deliveries, breaking Carle five times from nine chances, which mitigated for dropping serve twice.
The upshot of Tuesday's success sees the American player end a curious pattern of either exiting in her tournament-opening matches (2020 and 2023) or the fourth round (2019, 2022 and 2024).
Although the American is a two-time Grand Slam quarter-finalist, progressing to the French Open semi-finals in 2019 and the quarter-finals at Wimbledon in 2022, she has often endured mixed showings at the hard-court majors, as evidenced by her 10-5 record in Australia and 3-5 win-loss record at Flushing Meadows.
Keen to secure her 11th victory Down Under, Anisimova hopes her superior match sharpness in 2025 stands her in good stead against the so-far rusty Brit.
Tournament so far
Emma Raducanu:
First round: vs. Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-6[4] 7-6[2]
Amanda Anisimova:
First round: vs. Maria Lourdes Carle 6-2 6-3
Head To Head
The two players will be meeting for the first time on the WTA tour, adding intrigue to Thursday's encounter.
Raducanu is 1-0 this year after her first-round success, while Anisimova holds a 3-1 win-loss record before facing the British player.
We say: Anisimova to win in three sets
Unless Raducanu shows incredible improvement on serve, the rusty Briton's wait for a third-round match Down Under is likely to continue, with Anisimova backed to edge the 2021 US Open champion in three sets to set up a meeting with Iga Swiatek or Rebecca Sramkova.
