(Tennis news) The former British number one – who used a protected ranking to enter the tournament – had not taken part in a major event since last year’s Australian Open due to ankle and wrist operations, but she was promoted to the main draw from qualifying due to several withdrawals.
Rogers was also coming into the major on the back of a lengthy hiatus, having been out since Wimbledon with an abdominal injury, but Raducanu cut a much fresher figure as she comfortably dispatched the world number 161 6-3 6-2, despite a brief insect-related interruption.
Raducanu produced four aces and an exceptional first-serve win rate of 91%, while Shelby was left to rue 34 unforced errors and did not fashion a single break point on the 21-year-old’s serve throughout their 76-minute battle.
Raducanu has earned a second-round date with Yafan Wang thanks to her opening success, and she was one of four Britons to successfully make it through to round two on Tuesday, a list which also included current national number one Katie Boulter.
The world number 54 did not have things all her own way against China’s Yue Yuan but emerged victorious 7-5 7-6[1] in just under two hours, despite being broken while serving for the match in the second set.
Boulter let two match points slip through her grasp in the 10th game of the second set, but Yuan had only delayed the inevitable, as the Briton regained her composure to win five points on the bounce in a dominant tie-breaker.
Twelfth seed Qinwen Zheng now awaits Boulter, who could meet Raducanu in an all-British third-round match, and there were also triumphs for Cameron Norrie and Jack Draper in the men’s singles event.
Norrie made light work of world number 81 Juan Pablo Varillas, winning 6-4 6-4 6-2 in two hours and 15 minutes, hitting 21 forehand winners and saving three of the four break points he faced on the afternoon.
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