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Emma Raducanu Champions Tennis 2021

Emma Raducanu handed boost in final Australian Open warm-up event


Emma Raducanu has been handed a boost to the start of her 2022 campaign after Iga Swiatek withdrew from WTA Sydney.

The US Open champion opted to delay the start of her season by withdrawing from the Melbourne Summer Set as she recovered from a recent Covid-19 infection.

She was due to get her season underway at the WTA 500 event in Sydney, where was drawn against former French Open champion Swiatek in the first round.

However, following a fine run to the semi-finals in Adelaide, Swiatek has withdrawn from Sydney with a rib injury.

She will still face a tough test, though, with ninth-seed Elena Rybakina her new first round opponent.

The draw is a testament to a loaded field in Sydney, which also features Ashleigh Barty, Garbine Muguruze, and reigning Roland Garros champion Barbora Krejcikova.

Top seeds Barty and Muguruza have byes into the second round of the tournament, which gets underway on Monday 10 January.

Barty’s side of the draw features Raducanu, Anett Kontaveit, and Ons Jabeur, whwile Muguruza has the likes of Sofia Kenin, Paula Badosa, Barbora Krejcikova, and Belinda Bencic potentially in her path to the final.

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Michael Graham, Tennishead.net Editor, has been a professional sports journalist for his whole career and is especially passionate about tennis. He's been the Editor of Tennishead.net for over 5 years and loves watching live tennis by visiting as many tournaments as possible. Michael specialises in writing in-depth features about the ATP & WTA tours.