Emma Raducanu made a winning return to the Wimbledon tennis event on Monday after surviving a testing first-round battle against Mexican lucky loser Renata Zarazua.
The 21-year-old Briton, who missed last year’s tournament through injury, claimed a 7-6 (7-0) 6-3 victory on Centre Court.
Raducanu was supposed to be playing 22nd seed Ekaterina Alexandrova and thought she would be the “complete underdog” in her first appearance at the All England Club since losing in the second round two years ago.
Instead, the 2021 US Open champion found herself in a role reversal when the Russian withdrew through illness on Monday morning.
Zarazua, who lost in the third round of qualifying, benefited from Alexandrova’s absence and was handed her main-draw debut at Wimbledon.
Despite the size of the occasion, she pushed Raducanu in what was a tense performance at times from the home favourite.
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But the Briton, who was fired up and showed her passion throughout, had enough quality to eventually come through.
After Zarazua saved a match point on her own serve at 5-2, Raducanu set up another with a superb dash to the net to pick up a drop shot and clinched victory when her opponent put a sliced backhand long.
Raducanu said her love for the sport had returned and the beaming smile which greeted the success signalled her happiness.
She was the first Briton to reach the second round following defeats earlier on day one for Heather Watson, Charles Broom and Arthur Fery.
(Editor: Paul Akhagbemhe)
