Emma Raducanu serves during her win at the 2024 Australian Open
Raducanu has won in the first round of the Australian Open on all three of her appearances at Melbourne Park
Emma Raducanu marked her Grand Slam comeback in style with a confident straight-set win over Shelby Rogers in the Australian Open first round.
Britain’s Raducanu, 21, had not played at a major since last year’s event in Melbourne, having missed nearly eight months after wrist and ankle surgeries.
The 2021 US Open champion served superbly and hit her groundstrokes smoothly in a 6-3 6-2 win.
Raducanu will play China’s Wang Yafan in the second round on Thursday.
The former British number one, now ranked 296th in the world after her lay-off, joined compatriots Katie Boulter, Jack Draper and Cameron Norrie in winning first-round matches on Tuesday.
Raducanu and Boulter – who has taken over as Britain’s highest-ranked woman – remain on course to meet each other in what would be an appetising third-round encounter.
What can we expect from Raducanu in Melbourne and beyond?
Focus on Raducanu has been intense since she announced her arrival to the world with that remarkable US Open triumph.
The road has been rockier since the teenage qualifier won one of the biggest prizes in the sport.
There have been a series of injuries and illness, taking its toll mentally as well as physically, before the long break enforced by the surgeries in May.
But interest in her story has never waned and, on a packed outside court at Melbourne Park, Raducanu reminded us of her talent.
There will be tougher tests ahead, of course.
Rogers, who Raducanu beat on her way to her defining title in New York, is also on the comeback trail after missing the second half of last season with an abdominal injury.
Playing under a protected ranking of 51, 31-year-old Rogers showed signs of rustiness and fatigue in a match in which she made 35 unforced winners compared to 15 winners.
Nevertheless, Raducanu will take a lot of confidence from a performance where she did not face a break point and won 91% of points behind her first serve.
Raducanu clinched victory on her first match point with a forehand drive volley and immediately turned to her team with a raised clenched fist.
After shaking hands with Rogers, she smiled as she waved to the crowd and and then excitedly ran around the perimeter to thank the fans leaning over.
The sheer joy – and relief – indicated how much she has missed the elation of winning matches.