(Football news) The Briton cruised past the USA’s Shelby Rogers in her Melbourne opener, while Wang produced a mesmerising comeback to defeat Romanian 23rd seed Sorana Cirstea in three sets.

Two injury-bedevilled foes locked horns in their Australian Open first-round encounter on Tuesday, where former US Open winner Raducanu took to a Grand Slam court for the first time in 12 months, while Rogers played her first match since last year’s Wimbledon after a troublesome abdominal concern.

The WTA rankings may display Raducanu 135 places below Rogers in 296th spot, but the Briton was a class above her more experienced opponent both physically and technically, taking just 76 minutes to power to a 6-3 6-2 victory for her first major victory since the 2023 Australian Open.

Rogers’s performance was far from disastrous, but Raducanu’s exceptional speed and court coverage often proved too hot for the American to handle as the 21-year-old allayed any lingering fears over her fitness, while demonstrating exceptional ball-striking to boot.

Raducanu won 91% of points behind her first serve and committed fewer than half of Rogers’s unforced errors – 16 to 34 – to reach round two at the Australian Open for the third year running, but she is yet to make it past this stage in the opening Grand Slam of the calendar year.

In fact, not since her magical run to 2021 US Open glory has Raducanu reached the third round of any major tournament, but having also defeated Rogers en route to that infamous Grand Slam triumph, the 21-year-old’s more superstitious fans may be daring to dream once more.

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