Emma Raducanu has been handed a nightmare draw as she returns to competition at the Australian Open.
The British No. 2 was forced to pull out of her first tournament of the season, the ASB Classic, with a back injury and little is known about her fitness going into Melbourne.
But Raducanu will have a brutal path if she wants to make it into the second week of a Grand Slam tournament again.
Raducanu will take on No. 26 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in her opening match. The 23-year-old had been set to face the Russian in the first round of Wimbledon last summer but Alexandrova pulled out.
An experienced player who was ranked inside the top 15 less than a year ago, Alexandrova has had a difficult start to the season, going 1-2 in matches. But her sole victory came over Leylah Fernandez – the tricky Canadian who Raducanu beat to win the US Open in 2021.
If Raducanu can take down the 26th seed, she will face either Amanda Anisimova, one of her good friends, or a familiar face in Maria Lourdes Carle. The Argentine stunned Raducanu at last year’s Madrid Open, beating her 6-2 6-2 before the Brit said she felt “mentally and emotionally exhausted”.
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