British gamers have been handed two blockbuster attracts on the Australian Open with Jack Draper taking up defending champion Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray assembly Matteo Berrettini.
Draper, 21, has risen quick up the rankings and has begun the season in good kind, beating Karen Khachanov to succeed in the semi-finals of the Adelaide International on Thursday.
Nadal battled to a twenty first grand slam title in sensational style in Melbourne 12 months in the past however is but to win a match in 2023 and has misplaced six of his final seven matches.
There is little doubt Draper, who performed Novak Djokovic on his Wimbledon debut in 2021, will relish the event as he appears to make an enormous assertion.
Murray, who claimed an encouraging 6-3 6-3 victory over Australian Alex De Minaur on the exhibition Kooyong Classic, might be cursing his luck after discovering himself paired with thirteenth seed Berrettini.
The Italian reached the Wimbledon last in 2021 and was a semi-finalist at Melbourne Park 12 months in the past, whereas he defeated Murray within the third spherical of the US Open final summer time.
Kyle Edmund, taking part in on the match for the primary time since 2020 following three knee operations, was additionally out of luck, drawing eleventh seed Jannik Sinner.
There was higher information for the 2 British males’s seeds, with eleventh seed Cameron Norrie drawing younger French wild card Luca Van Assche whereas twenty fifth seed Dan Evans will meet Argentina’s Facundo Bagnis.
Title favorite Novak Djokovic will tackle Roberto Carballes Baena and is in the identical quarter of the draw as Nick Kyrgios, who meets Roman Safiullin.
Last yr’s runner-up Daniil Medvedev faces American Marcos Giron and will face a rematch with Nadal within the final eight.
In the ladies’s draw, Emma Raducanu will open her marketing campaign towards German Tamara Korpatsch if she recovers from an ankle damage in time.
The British primary is battling to beat the issue she suffered in Auckland final week and a minimum of has averted a seed, as an alternative drawing 74th ranked Korpatsch.
Raducanu was once more out on the observe courts at Melbourne Park on Thursday and transferring pretty effectively.
She may meet seventh seed Coco Gauff within the second spherical, whereas British quantity two Harriet Dart will face thirty second seed Jil Teichmann.
World primary Iga Swiatek faces a probably powerful opener towards Wimbledon quarter-finalist Jule Niemeier and two former Australian Open champions, Victoria Azarenka and Sofia Kenin, will meet within the first spherical.
Jodie Burrage and Yuriko Miyazki have been bidding so as to add to the British ranks in the primary draw however each have been crushed within the last spherical of qualifying.
Burrage misplaced 6-3 1-6 6-2 to France’s Selena Janicijevic whereas Miyazaki pushed former top-10 participant Coco Vandeweghe to a deciding tie-break earlier than taking place 6-3 6-7 (3) 7-6 (1).
Among those that did make it have been a pair of Czech youngsters – 15-year-old Brenda Fruhvirtova, who joins sister Linda within the draw, and 16-year-old Sara Bejlek.
