Emma Raducanu beats service issues to win Melbourne opener

Emma Raducanu overcame serving woes to upset 26th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova and reach the second round of the Australian Open.

The 22-year-old hit 15 double faults but edged an erratic match to post her best win at Melbourne Park, seeing off 31st-ranked Russian Alexandrova 7-6 (4) 7-6 (2).

Raducanu’s victory made it five British players through to the second round, equalling the record here with more chances to come.

She will try to reach the third round for the first time and will next take on fellow teenage prodigy Amanda Anisimova, who has taken time out of the game for her mental health.

Raducanu’s enduring popularity was evidenced by big queues outside Court 3 as the match began under a cloudless Melbourne sky.

The former US Open champion’s serve is a work in progress and her first two service games saw her produce five aces and four double faults.

From there the balance skewed to the negative side and heading into the tie-break she was winning fewer than 10 per cent of points on her second serve, while her double fault count had hit nine, including three in one game at 4-4.

Raducanu was pegged back from 4-2 to 4-4 in the tie-break, but won just her third point of the set on second serve at a crucial moment thanks to a wayward return. A forehand return drilled into the corner clinched the set.

Raducanu seemed to have settled on serve and another break of her opponent put the British number two immediately in the ascendancy in the second set.

She survived three more double faults at 3-2, turning to coach Nick Cavaday for advice, and was broken at 4-3 but forged ahead again to leave herself serving for the match.

At 30-0, she was two points away, but she could not create a match point and yet another double fault put Alexandrova back on serve.

Raducanu then had to save a set point to force a tie-break but from there was almost faultless, with a final double fault on her first match point the only blemish.