British No. 1 Emma Raducanu was in high spirit after she dispatched Tamara Korpatsch in a straight win 6-3 6-2 to win her opening match just eleven days after rolling her ankle in Auckland and being forced to retire in tears.

The 20-year-old who is seeded 77th in the world ranking was learnt by National Daily to have thrilled as she awaited her showdown with American Coco Gauff in her next match.

The Brit’s expectation of progressing to the next round was however dashed by Gauff who is seventy places better than Raducanu in the world ranking as the British best female player crashed out of the tournament in the second round following a 3-6 6-7 defeat to the American.

Though Raducanu was believed to have gone into the match as an underdog and was attempting to beat a top 10 player for the first time but fell short at Melbourne Park in what was the first competitive meeting between the two young star players.

Gauff, 18, considered by many to dominate women’s tennis in the coming years, is bidding to win her maiden Grand Slam having finished as a runner-up at the French Open last year and will next face either China’s world No.28 Qinwen Zheng or fellow American Bernarda Pera in the third round.

Raducanu, 20, can be proud of her performance and despite her defeat, looks vastly improved in the early stages of 2023 after struggles with form and injury last year which saw her slip from world No.10 to her current rank of No.77

The British star – who won the US Open in 2021 as a qualifier – will rue her missed break point opportunities, though, and blew six chances to break Gauff in the first set, converting just one. She also made a number of unnecessary unforced errors.

Raducanu looked strong in the second set and went 5-4 up after breaking Gauff for a second time in the match and producing some impressive service games but missed two crucial set-point opportunities as Gauff battled back to win it on a tie-break.

Gauff headed into the Australian Open in top form having lifted the ASB Classic title in the first week of January and has a good chance to go all the way, although she will need to overcome world No.1 Iga Swiatek in the quarter-finals.

‘I just told myself to hang in there,’ Gauff said on the court as she registered her 100th WTA main draw win.

‘Considering the circumstances I think both of us were nervous, it was an anticipated match since the draw came out.’

Advertisement

CoCo Vandeweghe, a two-time Grand Slam semi-finalist, watched the match as a pundit for the BBC and added: ‘Raducanu was doing all the right things. But sometimes tennis is a cruel sport.’