Raducanu faces Gauff in Australian Open second-round blockbuster

Coco Gauff and Emma Raducanu meet in the Australian Open second round on Wednesday as the future of women's tennis goes on full display in Melbourne.

Men's defending champion Rafael Nadal is also in action on day three of the first Grand Slam of the year.

But it is the present and future of women's tennis which will take centre stage.

Top seed and red-hot favourite Iga Swiatek opens play on Rod Laver Arena when she faces Colombia's Camila Osorio, ranked 84th in the world.

That will be followed by in-form American third seed Jessica Pegula, who will face a stern test in 38th-ranked Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich.

Also scheduled for the morning -- as long as there is no repeat of the heat and heavy rain from Tuesday -- is the Greek sixth seed Maria Sakkari. She plays Russia's Diana Shnaider.

In the evening session on Rod Laver Arena comes what many hope will be a blockbuster between American Gauff and Britain's former US Open champion Raducanu.

Gauff, 18, and Raducanu, 20, have never played each other before.

The Briton has done something Gauff never has in winning a major, but the American is ranked seventh to her opponent's 77th.

And teenager Gauff is in better form, coming off a victory in an Auckland warm-up tournament that brought her a third WTA crown.

As well as patchy form, Raducanu has also suffered a string of injury niggles since she stunned the tennis world by winning the US Open in 2021 as a teenage qualifier.

Gauff says the pressure is on Raducanu, who had been a doubt coming into Melbourne after yet another injury.

"Obviously she's gone through a lot of pressure, bursting onto the scene. I feel like probably more than I have experienced coming to win a Slam," said Gauff.

"And especially I feel like being from the UK, being the first British person to do something in a long time, probably is a lot more pressure than what I'm used to being an American."

Danielle Collins, last year's Australian Open runner-up, will step up her bid for a maiden major title when she meets Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic.

In the second round of the men's draw, the 36-year-old Nadal faces 65th-ranked American Mackenzie McDonald.

Third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas and seventh seed Daniil Medvedev, who was beaten in last year's final by Nadal in a five-set thriller, are also both set to feature.

Medvedev will have to face down the home fans when he meets Australia's John Millman.

Tsitsipas, who is yet to win a major, plays another Australian in 169th-ranked Rinky Hijikata.

A raft of other matches which failed to finish on Tuesday because of the weather will also conclude.

Source: AFP