British No 1 Emma Raducanu defeated Sloane Stephens to make a winning start on
her Australian Open debut.
Emma Raducanu beat Sloane Stephens 6-0 2-6 6-1 to reach the second round in
Melbourne. The 19-year-old has found wins hard to come by since her extraordinary
success in New York in September but, back on the big stage, Raducanu came up with
the right formula again to claim a 6-0 2-6 6-1 victory.
She lost just four points in a startling first set that admittedly was woeful from
Stephens before the American hit her stride in the second.
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That set up a first ever decider at this level for Raducanu, and she could not have
handled it any better, keeping her cool and striking the ball with confidence to clinch
victory after an hour and 45 minutes.
Both players went into the match undercooked – Raducanu after a battle with
Covid-19 and Stephens following her wedding to footballer Jozy Altidore on New
Year’s Day.
Raducanu won only one game against Elena Rybakina in Sydney last week having just
returned to full training and it was hard to know what to expect from her here.
What transpired in a remarkable 17-minute first set was that Raducanu had found her
sharpness while Stephens looked like she was still on honeymoon.
Stephens made error after error, allowing Raducanu the freedom to go for winners,
which she made with aplomb.
“I just want to thank everyone for coming out and staying so late,” said Raducanu.
“Both me and Sloane really put everything out there. I thought it was a really high-
quality match with lots of great rallies so I’m really happy to have come through
against such a great champion.
“It was a tough match-up for a first round. Her athleticism is really up there. I was
having to work extremely hard for my points but I’m so happy to have got through.
I was very pleased.
