Emma Raducanu could face world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the third round of the Australian Open as the British No 1 landed a tough draw despite her seeding for the opening grand slam of the season.
Raducanu will begin her tournament against Thailand’s Mananchaya Sawangkaew, who will be making her grand slam main draw debut, while her possible second-round opponents are Russian-born No 59 Anastasia Potapova or the Netherlands’ No 85 Suzan Lamens.
Raducanu’s seeding of 29 coming into the Australian Open meant she would have expected to face one of the top eight players in the world if she made the third round, but drew the hardest possible opponent after landing in Sabalenka’s section. The Belarusian has reached the final of the Australian Open three years in a row and will be determined to regain her title after last year’s shock defeat to Madison Keys.
Raducanu’s defeat to Sabalenka in the third round of last year’s Wimbledon continued the theme of exiting grand slams against the very best players in the world. The 23-year-old also lost to Iga Swiatek at the Australian Open and Roland Garros and Elena Rybakina in the third round of the US Open.
The 23-year-old Raducanu pushed Sabalenka to another close defeat in Cincinnati last season.
Elsewhere in the draw, Katie Boulter will play 10th seed Belinda Bencic, who has won all five of her matches this season and Sonay Kartal will take on 31st seed Anna Kalinskaya. Fran Jones will play a qualifier on her first Australian Open main draw appearance in five years.
On the men’s side, 26th seed Cameron Norrie will meet France’s Benjamin Bonzi, while the first seed he could play is world No 3 Alexander Zverev in the third round, and Jacob Fearnley will take on Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak. Qualifier Arthur Fery is also through to the main draw.
