Raducanu, Murray, Evans and Watson advance – day two at the Australian Open
Daniil Medvedev, the leading men’s seed in the absence of Novak Djokovic, also made safe progress into round two on Tuesday.
Emma Raducanu made an impressive return to the big stage as she powered into the second round of the Australian Open with a convincing win over Sloane Stephens.
The 19-year-old may have found wins hard to come by of late but, a second-set wobble aside, she evoked memories of her US Open success as she eased to a 6-0 2-6 6-1 victory.
On a busy day for British players, former world number one and three-time grand slam champion Andy Murray also went through after battling to a five-set win over 21st seed Nikoloz Basilashvili.
Dan Evans, the 24th seed, joined him in the next round after confidently seeing off David Goffin in straight sets but qualifier Liam Broady went down to home favourite Nick Kyrgios. Heather Watson was triumphant but qualifier Harriet Dart won just three games as she lost to seventh-seeded Pole Iga Swiatek.
Daniil Medvedev, the leading men’s seed in the absence of Novak Djokovic, is safely through along with Andrey Rublev and Stefanos Tsitsipas, as are leading women’s contenders Aryna Sabalenka and Garbine Muguruza.
Picture of the day
Stat of the day
Basilashvili had some fine moments in his near four-hour battle with Murray, but mis-hitting a serve over his opponent’s head into the crowd was not one of them.
The next generation
Serena Williams may not be competing in Melbourne this year but tennis remains firmly on the family’s mind with husband Alexis Ohanian tweeting a video of their four-year-old daughter Olympia honing her backhand.
Fallen seeds
Women: Angelique Kerber (16), Petra Kvitova (20), Leylah Fernandez (23)
Men: Nikoloz Basilashvili (21), Ugo Humbert (29)
Who’s up next?
