BEVERLY HILLS, February 05, (THEWILL) – The draws for the preliminary stages of the Australian Open served up different strokes for the big names in both male and female tennis. Current holder Novak Djokovic will begin his Australian Open title defence against Jeremy Chardy, while the wildcard Maddison Inglis will contend against reigning women’s champion Sofia Kenin.
The Serbian world number one Djokovic triumphed over Austrian Dominic Thiem for a record-extending eighth title at Melbourne Park last year. Thiem, seeded third for the Open will face the Kazakh Mikhail Kukushkin in his opening match.
Women’s iconic player, the American Serena Williams, who is just one championship away from tying the all-time record of 24 Grand Slams, begins with a tough draw against Laura Siegemund.
Naomi Osaka, the 2019 champion, will also not have an easy start. Her series of potentially tough matches start with an opening clash against former quarter-finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova from Russia. That will be just a teaser as Osaka could still be against Caroline Garcia and Ons Jabeur in her next two rounds, which, if she survives, can allow a likely match-up with either Garbine Muguruza or Angelique Kerber in the fourth round.
World number two Rafael Nadal, seeking a first title at Melbourne Park since 2009, will meet Serbia’s Laslo Djere to serve off his own Slam. The Spaniard has equalled Roger Federer’s 20 Grand Slam titles record. Melbourne affords him the chance to one up the Swiss legend, who did not recovery quickly enough from his knee surgery for Australia.
Women’s top-ranked player, Australia’s Ash Barty will once again attempt to become the first homegrown singles winner at the Australian Open since 1978 when the 24-year-old takes on Danka Kovinic from Montenegro.
The Romanian Simona Halep, who is seeded second was a beaten finalist at Melbourne Park three years ago. She begins her season facing wild card entry Lizette Cabrera, the other Australian in the Slam. For fifth-seeded Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, a challenge to overcome Czech player Marie Bouzkova is how the Open will start.
Other notable draws include ATP Finals champion Daniil Medvedev, who was eliminated in the fourth round in the previous two years. The Russian will meet Canada’s Vasek Pospisil. In an interesting pairing, young guns Italian Jannik Sinner and Canadian Denis Shapovalov are set to face off in what promises to be a blockbuster opener Down Under.
A tricky test awaits Greek fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in his opening match against French veteran Gilles Simon while the German Alexander Zverev and Russian Andrey Rublev have relatively easier first rounds against Marcos Giron of the US and Yannick Hanfmann from Germany.
Sensational French Open winner Iga Swiatek, whose breakthrough last year was the highlight of the post-lockdown tennis, takes on Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands while veteran Venus Williams plays Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium.
The Australian Open is scheduled to take place at Melbourne Park, from February 8–21. It will be the 109th edition of the Australian Open, the 53rd in the Open Era, and the first Grand Slam of the year. It was originally scheduled for January 18–31, but was postponed by three weeks to February due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
