From a break down, Raducanu rolls past Sawangkaew at Australian Open

No. 28 seed Emma Raducanu maintained her perfect record in the Australian Open first round, coming from 4-2 down in the first set to defeat Thailand's Mananchaya Sawangkaew 6-4, 6-1 in 1 hour and 11 minutes.

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Raducanu came into Melbourne with question marks over her disrupted pre-season training and form, and was coming off a quarterfinal loss in Hobart to wild card Taylah Preston, then ranked outside the Top 200. However, she delivered her most consistently aggressive match of the season to shake those off and advance to the second round for a fifth straight year.

How did Sawangkaew pressure Raducanu early on?

Sawangkaew's ranking may be down at No. 196, but that number is largely down to the six-month layoff she endured last year due to a back injury. Indeed, just before she was sidelined Sawangkaew had cracked the Top 100 in June, becoming just the third Thai player in history to do so. She also came into Melbourne with momentum from winning the Nonthaburi ITF W75 event two weeks ago.

The Australian Open marked Sawangkaew's Grand Slam main-draw debut -- arguably a belated one, owing to the timing of her injury hiatus. She started the match as if eager to make up for lost time. Swinging freely with her forehand, consistently landing deep returns and coming up with some brilliant plays at net, Sawangkaew captured the first break of the match for 3-1.

She had her chances to move up a double break, holding two points for a 4-1 lead and then taking Raducanu to deuce at 4-2. But in Grand Slam tennis, players who fail to press home their advantage are often left to rue that.

How did Raducanu turn the match around?

By stepping up her aggression. Sawangkaew had been bossing the rallies to get to 3-1, but with her back to the wall, Raducanu began landing more effective first serves and flattening out her forehand. She saved the two break points to fall behind 4-1 with solid one-two punches. Down 4-2, she won one of the best exchanges of the match -- with Sawangkaew scampering from side to side, showing off superb athleticism, Raducanu finished the point at net -- to come out of another tight hold.

From that point on, momentum was firmly in Raducanu's favor. Sawangkaew's errors began to mount -- she eventually talled 21 -- and she conceded her serve with an untimely double fault and wide forehand. Up 5-4, it was Raducanu who was drawing errors by landing her returns deep on her opponent's baseline -- including on her first set point.

The Briton continued to stay on offense throughout the second set, though she also managed to come up with a brilliant hot shot on defense, sliding a sliced backhand pass down the line en route to holding for 3-0. By contrast, Sawangkaew was unable to find her early form again -- of her nine total winners, only one came in the second set.

Raducanu made no mistake in closing out the match, sending down a second ace of the day on her first match point -- her 17th winner of the day.

How did Raducanu assess the match?

The former US Open champion paid tribute to her less-experienced opponent's level.

"I thought she was serving incredibly well, better than I probably expected going on to the court," Raducanu told press afterwards. "Hitting all the spots, very high first-serve percentage. Returns were dropping very deep on the line a couple times early on. That puts a lot of pressure on straightaway. Maybe I made a few errors thinking I had to do a bit too much early on. I was still looking for my forehand, doing the right things. I didn't think I was particularly tense.

"I was just very happy with how I kept competing. It was a really important game at 2-4 to hold, having saved a couple break points at 15-40. After that I think it was a combination of me finding my feet, my movement, dominating a bit more, and also a few errors from her. Both of that helped. I ended up having a pretty good run of games."

As for Raducanu's shaky start to 2026, she considered all her matches to date to be an essential part of the process.

"Today overall in all my shots, I felt like I had better control than I did in the last few weeks," she said. "But the last few weeks' matches and points, everything I've been doing on the court, has really helped to be in the situation I am in today. If had I not played those three matches, despite how they went, I don't know if I would have gotten through today."

What's next for Raducanu?

Raducanu will face Austria's Anastasia Potapova. The 55th-ranked Potapova pulled off a remarkable comeback, erasing a 5-1 second-set deficit to defeat Suzan Lamens 3-6, 7-5, 6-2. She's no stranger to this kind of escape: last year, Potapova won from a set down on seven occasions, including victories from match point down in three consecutive clay-court tournaments (Stuttgart over Clara Tauson, Madrid over Sofia Kenin and Rome over Dayana Yastremska).

"I think from the set down, I win pretty much everything when I go set down," Potapova said with a laugh afterwards. "Maybe I should start the match already with a set down. There is no point playing the first set. But yeah, jokes aside, I had couple of matches when I was match point down or huge difference down and I turned it around. I have experience in that, let's say."

Raducanu has not faced Potapova before, but she's been a keen observer of the 24-year-old for a while.

" I remember watching Anastasia all through juniors, number one Tennis Europe juniors, ITF," she said. "I was the year below her. She was always the player to watch and beat through juniors. She's been very high ranked as well in the pros. She got a really tough match today so that must give her a lot of confidence. A big hitter. I know it's going to be a really tricky one. I need to just gather my strength and prepare as best as possible for the next match."