The Briton, seeded at a major tournament for the first time in over three years, has still been handed a tricky route to the final despite her advantage.
Raducanu opens her account Down Under against the world No195 Mananchaya Sawangkaew.
Should she get past the Thai player, she could face either Anastasia Potapova or Suzan Lamens in the next round.
What time is Raducanu playing at Australian Open?
The British No1 is scheduled last on Margaret Court Arena – Melbourne Park’s second biggest show court – on day one of the tournament.
She is the second match of the night session, following Jenson Brooksby and Alexander Bublik. She is estimated to take to the court at around 10am GMT.
The night sessions at this year’s tournament begin at 8am GMT, which is 7pm local time.
Raducanu has played just the one warm-up tournament in the lead-up to the year’s first Grand Slam, playing at the Hobart International in Tasmania.
She was the top seed there, but fell in straight sets in the quarter-finals to Taylah Preston, the 20-year-old Australian, who is ranked world No205.
A 6-2, 6-4 defeat on Thursday had followed a comfortable victory over Camila Osorio before Magdalena Frech handed her a walkover in the last 16.
Her final match of 2025 came in October at the Ningbo Open, where she was beaten in the first round by Lin Zhu.
The Briton pulled out of the recent United Cup tie with Japan right before she was scheduled to make her comeback against Naomi Osaka, who is seeded 16th in Melbourne.
She returned for Great Britain’s next group game against Greece, but lost to Maria Sakkari in a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 defeat in Perth.
How to watch Raducanu at the Australian Open
TV channel: All the action at this year’s Australian Open is being broadcast live on TNT Sports.
The day’s play will begin at midnight in the UK, with action on the show courts commencing at 1am on Sunday, January 18, 2026. Coverage on TNT Sports starts at 12.30am GMT.
The night sessions begin at 8am GMT, with coverage beginning at 7am.
Live stream: TNT Sports subscribers can stream the action live on the discovery+ app and website.
