In a marquee first-round showdown Tuesday between two of last year’s most celebrated comeback players, No.2 seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine defeated Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-3 at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand.

After ousting the 2018 Australian Open winner, Svitolina will face a second Grand Slam champion in the second round. Wild card Emma Raducanu, the 2021 US Open champion, was victorious in her first match back from an eight-month injury layoff, defeating qualifier Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 in 2 hours and 27 minutes.

Raducanu, 21, was competing for the first time since Stuttgart last May after undergoing multiple wrist and ankle surgeries and has slipped to No.301 in the rankings. But she delivered a gritty performance to hold off a late charge by Ruse, ultimately converting her fourth match point in her third attempt to serve out the win.

In a serve-dominated opening set, Raducanu showed little sign of rust behind her delivery. She did not face a break point and lost just three points behind her first serve and gained the single crucial break in the eighth game.

But No.134-ranked Ruse, who ended 2023 by reaching her third career Hologic WTA Tour final in Cluj-Napoca, hit back in the second set with improved returning and a series of powerful forehands. Though Raducanu threatened a late comeback as she cut Ruse's lead from 5-2 to 5-4, it wasn't enough to reel the Romanian in entirely.

Raducanu regained the authority of her first-set form in the decider, upping her aggression and leaping out to a 5-2 double-break lead without facing a break point. This time, it was Ruse's turn to make a charge from behind. The World No.134 found a backhand winner to seal her first break point of the set, then saved two match points on her own serve in the subsequent game despite Raducanu coming up with the best shot of the match, a squash shot pass that dipped crosscourt just out of Ruse's reach.

Having leveled at 5-5, Ruse seemed to have all the momentum -- but threw in a loose service game to hand it back to Raducanu. At the third time of asking, Raducanu made no mistake, overturning a 0-30 deficit with stellar serving to seal her first win since beating Beatriz Haddad Maia at Indian Wells last March.

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Svitolina maintains dominance over Wozniacki

Former World No.3 Svitolina, who is currently placed 25th in the rankings, needed 1 hour and 44 minutes to topple former World No.1 Wozniacki, extending her dominance in their career head-to-head record  to 5-1. All five of their previous meetings came between 2016 and 2018.

Highlights: Svitolina d. Wozniacki

Two of the most notable titlists on the Hologic WTA Tour over the past 15 years, both Svitolina and Wozniacki made returns from maternity leave in 2023, with Svitolina winning last year’s WTA Comeback Player of the Year award.

Wozniacki has had much previous success at the ASB Classic, reaching the final in both 2015 and 2018. But Svitolina, making her tournament debut, curtailed the Dane’s Auckland form and denied Wozniacki her 20th career match-win in the city.

Wozniacki was one point away from a 5-3 lead in the opening set, but Svitolina leveled matters at 4-4 by slamming a rally backhand winner to break. Svitolina was then in danger in her next service game, but she erased three break points and held serve with a winning drop shot.

Serving to stay in the set down 5-4, Wozniacki held five game points but was unable to convert any of those opportunities, and Svitolina lined up her first set point with another rally backhand winner. Svitolina needed only one chance, as Wozniacki misfired on a wide backhand to end the set.

In the second set, Svitolina’s 4-1 lead was whittled to 4-3, but she converted her fourth break point of a grueling game to break Wozniacki again for 5-3. Svitolina saved one last break point before serving out the match in the next game. Svitolina fended off six of the nine break points she faced overall.