Great Britain's Emma Raducanu commenced her bid for Australian Open glory with a hard-fought victory over 26th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in Tuesday's first-round match.
Continuing her streak of never losing a first-round Grand Slam contest Down Under, the 2021 US Open champion prevailed 7-6[4] 7-6[2] over her Russian foe to set up a second-round battle with Amanda Anisimova.
Should Raducanu overcome the American in their first-ever top-level match, she could face second seed Iga Swiatek in the third round if the former world number one earns an expected win over Rebecca Sramkova.
However, while Raducanu has never lost a first-round match at the Australian Open, she is also yet to progress to the third round, losing at this stage in each of her first three appearances.
Raducanu will be joined in the second round by compatriot Katie Boulter, who passed a challenging test posed by Canada's Rebecca Marino to win 6-4 3-6 7-5; her second-round opponent will be Veronika Kudermetova.
Former Wimbledon semi-finalist Cameron Norrie fell at the first hurdle, though, as the 29-year-old was beaten 7-6[4] 4-6 1-6 3-6 by Italy's Matteo Berrettini, thereby missing out on a second-round showdown with Holger Rune.
What else happened on Australian Open day three?
© Imago
All of the first-round ties at the Australian Open have now been played following the conclusion of day three's action, where there was a monumental shock in the men's draw.
Ninth seed Andrey Rublev was upset 6-7[1] 3-6 6-7[5] by Brazilian teenager and reigning Next Gen ATP Finals champion Joao Fonseca, who became the first man since Rublev himself in 2017 to take down a top-10 seed in straight sets in a Grand Slam match.
However, Taylor Fritz, Daniil Medvedev, Hubert Hurkacz and Alex de Minaur all had no problems advancing to round two, but Stan Wawrinka - who turns 40 in March - lost in four sets to Lorenzo Sonego.
In the women's section, Elena Rybakina, Jasmine Paolini and Ons Jabeur won in straight sets, but Maria Sakkari was a high-profile exit, going down in three to Camila Osorio of Colombia.
Thirteenth seed Anna Kalinskaya withdrew from the competition mere moments before she was due to face Australian qualifier Kimberly Birrell, who was instead beaten in straight sets by lucky loser Eva Lys.
Ben Knapton
