Emma Raducanu lands nightmare draw despite Australian Open seeding

Emma Raducanu could face world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the third round of the Australian Open as the British No 1 landed a tough draw despite her seeding for the opening grand slam of the season.

Raducanu will begin her tournament against Thailand’s Mananchaya Sawangkaew, who will be making her grand slam main draw debut, while her possible second-round opponents are Russian-born No 59 Anastasia Potapova or No 85 Suzan Lamens of the Netherlands.

Raducanu’s seeding of 28 coming into the Australian Open meant she would have expected to face one of the top eight players in the world if she made the third round, but drew the hardest possible opponent after landing in Sabalenka’s section. The Belarusian has reached the final of the Australian Open three years in a row and will be determined to regain her title after last year’s shock defeat to Madison Keys.

Raducanu’s defeat to Sabalenka in the third round of last year’s Wimbledon continued the theme of exiting grand slams against the very best players in the world. The 23-year-old also lost to Iga Swiatek at the Australian Open and Roland Garros and Elena Rybakina in the third round of the US Open.

The 23-year-old Raducanu pushed Sabalenka to another close defeat in Cincinnati last season.

Elsewhere in the draw, Katie Boulter will play 10th seed Belinda Bencic, who has won all five of her matches this season and Sonay Kartal will take on 31st seed Anna Kalinskaya. Fran Jones will play a qualifier on her first Australian Open main draw appearance in five years.

On the men’s side, 26th seed Cameron Norrie will meet France’s Benjamin Bonzi, while the first seed he could play is world No 3 Alexander Zverev in the third round, and Jacob Fearnley will take on Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak. Qualifier Arthur Fery is also through to the main draw.

World No 1 Carlos Alcaraz will kick off his bid for a first Australian Open and the career grand slam against home player Adam Walton. Alcaraz could also meet Australia’s Alex de Minaur, the sixth seed, in the quarter-finals. De Minaur will first have to get through a blockbuster opening match against former Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini.

Ten-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic was drawn on the same half as defending champion Jannik Sinner, with the 38-year-old landing in the same quarter as fifth seed Lorenzo Musetti and ninth seed Taylor Fritz as he bids to reach a fifth consecutive grand slam semi-final.

Sinner faces a potential blockbuster of a third-round match against 28th seed Joao Fonseca. Other possibilities for fun early matches are Ben Shelton v Gael Monfils and Grigor Dimitrov v Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round, while the retiring Stan Wawrinka, a former champion in Melbourne, will open against Laslo Djere.

Projected second week, based on seeding

[1] Alcaraz vs Davidovich Fokina [14]

[10] Bublik v De Minaur [6]

[3] Zverev v Rublev [13]

[11] Medvedev v Auger-Aliassime [7]

[5] Musetti v Fritz [9]

[16] Mensik v Djokovic [4]

[8] Shelton v Ruud [12]

[15] Khachanov v Sinner [2]

Iga Swiatek’s route to a first Australian Open is loaded with danger, with two-time champion Naomi Osaka a potential fourth-round opponent for the second seed and fifth seed Elena Rybakina her potential quarter-final.

Fourth seed Amanda Anisimova is also in Swiatek’s half of the draw, while the Wimbledon and US Open runner-up is in the same quarter as fellow Americans Jessica Pegula and defending champion Madison Keys.

Third seed Coco Gauff and top seed Sabalenka cannot meet in the final after they were drawn in the same half, while Gauff could face a second-round match against seven-time grand slam champion Venus Williams.

Williams, who will become the oldest player ever in the Australian Open main draw at 45, faces Olga Danilovic in the first round.

Projected second week, based on seeding

[1] Sabalenka v Tauson [14]

[11] Alexandrova v Paolini [7]

[3] Gauff v Navarro [15]

[12[ Svitolina v Andreeva [8]

[6] Pegula v Keys [9]

[13] Noskova v Anisimova [4]

[5] Rybakina v Bencic [10]

[16] Osaka v Swiatek [2]