Britain’s Emma Raducanu and American teenager Coco Gauff will meet for the first time in a highly anticipated second-round match on day three of the Australian Open.
Raducanu, 20, and 18-year-old world number seven Gauff will headline the night session at Rod Laver Arena from 0800 GMT on Wednesday.
“It will be a great match,” said 2021 US Open champion Raducanu.
“Coco has obviously done a lot of great things and she’s playing well.”
She added: “I think we’re both good young players. We’re both moving forward, being part of the next generation of tennis, really.”
British men’s number one Cameron Norrie will face Constant Lestienne after beating fellow Frenchman Luca van Assche in straight sets on Monday.
Women’s world number one Iga Swiatek will open the game at the Rod Laver Arena against Colombia’s Camila Osorio, with defending champion and men’s top seed Rafael Nadal facing American Mackenzie McDonald later in the day.
Gauff, considered one of the tournament favorites, started her Australian Open with a 6-1 6-4 victory over Czech Katerina Siniakova, while Raducanu beat Germany’s Tamara Korpatsch 6-3 6-2 .
Aged 15, Gauff became the youngest woman to qualify for the main draw at Wimbledon in 2019 – the same tournament where, in 2021, an 18-year-old Raducanu announced herself with a run in the fourth round.
Raducanu stunned the sport with his US Open triumph in only his second Grand Slam appearance while Gauff, already established on the WTA Tour, reached her first major final at the French Open last year.
“I talk to him pretty much at every tournament,” Gauff said of Raducanu. “I didn’t really know her well as a junior, but I need to talk to her more on tour now.
“Obviously she was under a lot of pressure, bursting onto the scene. I probably feel more than I experienced to win a Slam.
“And most importantly, I feel like I’m from the UK, being the first Brit to do something in a long time, it’s probably a lot more pressure than I’m used to, being an American .”
