Sorry Norrie falls at first hurdle as Emma prepares for

EMMA RADUCANU and Cam Norrie may find this year that having a breakthrough season is one thing, but backing it up is another. The female and male British No 1s are faced with similar tasks in 2022, and the early signs are that at least one of them is learning the hard way. While Raducanu is due this morning to have her first test at the australian Open, Norrie is already out after being heavily beaten in the first round. Elevated to the lofty heights of being the No 12 seed, the left-hander was hammered 6-3, 6-0, 6-4 by Seb Korda, the 21-year-old american. Norrie was at a loss to explain a defeat that took less than an hour and three quarters, but it would be unnatural if he was not feeling the pressure to replicate the outstanding results that have propelled him forwards over the past 12 months. He also had precious little off-season, but following his fourth defeat out of four matches in 2022, he did not offer that as an explanation for his loss. ‘I feel good physically and I don’t know why I played the way I did today,’ Norrie said after the match. ‘This is what we are paid to do and it’s not good enough. I just need to raise my standards, practice, matches, and execute a lot better. for the last year and a half I have been playing great on the big points, in the big moments, and I have been very quick around the court. Today I didn’t do any of that.’ Norrie (right) will head back to Europe, and due to continuing quarantine regulations in New Zealand he will not even get to enjoy a long-awaited reunion with his parents, who live in auckland. ‘It would be nice to see them, I’ve missed them a lot,’ he said. ‘They could have come but they would have had to do the seven days in the hotel to go back which didn’t make much sense, so it’s difficult. Last time I saw them was a year and a half ago. Hopefully they’ll come for the British summer and I’ll see them at some point.’ While andy Murray was due to play overnight against 29-year-old Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili, both Raducanu and compatriot Liam Broady find themselves on show courts this morning. The British pair make up one half of two of the most enticing first-round matches at this year’s australian Open, against two highly unpredictable players. Raducanu will have a first meeting with Sloane Stephens, who won the US Open

in 2017. Stephens has played only two matches since October and is yet to feature in 2022 after getting married on new Year’s Day to footballer Jozy Altidore. Broady, battle-hardened after coming through the qualifying rounds in Australia, may fancy his chances of upsetting nick Kyrgios, who has played precious little tennis in the past two years and recently had Covid. The controversial Australian has not played a match since August, and is without a win since July.