Australian Open 2026: Emma Raducano overcomes slow start to advance to second round

Raducanu has made encouraging progress in 2025, once again climbing into the world’s top 30 and playing more matches than in any previous season of her career.

However, the off-season work she planned to do with coach Francisco Roig – who helped Rafael Nadal win 16 of his 22 major titles – was hampered by a foot injury.

She arrived in Melbourne with just one win, and in her final match before her first major tournament of the year, she was beaten by world number 204 Tayla Preston in Hobart.

It briefly looked like another upset could be on the cards for Raducanu as Sawangkaew – making her Grand Slam main draw debut – shined in the opening few matches, outshining Raducanu with powerful rebounds and intelligent play at the net.

She broke her British opponent’s serve in the third game and had the opportunity to lead 4-1, but Raducano responded with a group of successful strikes to avoid falling further behind.

Raducanu gathered momentum from there and responded to tie the set at 4-4 before breaking again to win the opener.

She continued to overwhelm the Thai, scoring 17 winners to Sawangkaew’s nine and winning 27 of the 40 points available in the second set – winning in style with an ace.

“She plays great tennis and is ranked much higher than she is currently ranked, so I think she will do good things this year,” Raducano added.