As the sun set on Melbourne Park and the Australian Open’s marathon three-day opening round finally came to an end, Emma Raducanu marked her return to grand slam competition with a strong performance and an invaluable win as she convincingly defeated Shelby Rogers 6-3, 6-2 to return to the second round.
After an eight-month layoff after surgery on both of her hands and her ankle in April, Raducanu’s first grand slam victory in 12 months represented another positive step forward as she looks to reestablish herself among the best players in the world. Having returned to competition in Auckland in the first week of January, this is Raducanu’s second win of her comeback.
Since the fateful first meeting between Raducanu and Rogers at the 2021 US Open, when Rogers set up their match by toppling Ashleigh Barty, the world No 1, then Raducanu dismantled Rogers 6-2, 6-1 en-route to the title, so much has changed for both players. While Raducanu missed eight months due to her operations, Rogers also underwent surgery last summer and the American had not played since Wimbledon.
Raducanu’s appearance at the Australian Open had initially been surrounded by question marks after her withdrawal from her scheduled pre-tournament exhibitions but, by the end of the week, her numerous intense training sessions and high praise from players who sparred with her underlined that she was ready.
From the beginning, Raducanu looked to take control in the exchanges by forcing herself inside the baseline, taking the ball early while effortlessly changing directions off both forehand and backhand without issue. After settling down with two tight holds, Raducanu began to read Rogers’ serve, landing ample returns and working her way inside the baseline. She took the decisive break of the set with an excellent return game, which she backed up by serving well until the end of the set.
With the first set secured, Raducanu opened her shoulders and played freely, breaking Rogers’s drive in the opening game of the second set and building her momentum until the end. Alongside her clean, early ball-striking, Raducanu moved well, she slipped in well-timed drop shots and her serve was reliable in the decisive moments.
Having drawn one of the few players in the draw with even less match practice and more rust than herself, this was undoubtedly a helpful draw for Raducanu, allowing her to ease back into top-level competition. There will be tougher tests to come, starting with a second round meeting with Wang Yafan of China on Thursday. Earlier on Tuesday, the world No 97 defeated Sorana Cirstea 0-6, 7-5, 6-2.