Key events
“COME ON,” screams Osaka as she breaks for 5-3 with some big hitting that nearly makes as much of a statement as her garb. “COME ON,” screams Osaka again as she secures three set points at 40-0. Ruzic rifles long and Osaka takes the opener 6-3.
So what else is occurring now that night has fallen in Melbourne? Apart from Osaka v Ruzic and Tsitsipas v Mochizuki, it’s all about the Australians, with the qualifier Maddison Inglis and Kimberly Birrell facing each other, Daria Kasatkina playing the Czech Nikola Bartunkova and the wildcard James Duckworth, after a mere four hours, on course for a five-set victory over the lucky loser Dino Prizmic, leading the Croatian 4-1 in the decider.
Machac defeats Dimitrov
Machac has seen off Dimitrov in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3, and awaits the winner of Tsitsipas v Mochizuki. That’s going with serve, 3-3 in the opening set.
I didn’t realise it’s Ruzic’s birthday today, and she finally has something to celebrate on court too when she takes that attritional fourth game, which in the end lasted 13 minutes. Perhaps she was blindsided by Osaka’s outfit early on, but she’s got her eye in now, and moves to break point on Osaka’s serve. Osaka hits long and Ruzic breaks to get back on serve, trailing 3-2.
A couple of results: Hubert Hurkacz, the former quarter-finalist, has come from a set down to defeat Zizou Bergs 6-7, 7-6, 6-3, 6-3, while the Czech Vit Kopriva has outlasted the German veteran Jan-Lennard Struff in five sets, 4-6, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3, 6-1. Kopriva will play Fritz next.
Fair play to Osaka, who is absolutely putting on a show befitting of that walk-on outfit (most of which has now been removed). The 16th seed has zoomed into a 3-0 lead, and has break point on Ruzic’s serve. Osaka nets her attempted return from Ruzic’s kick serve, and it’s deuce. Some superb counterattacking from Osaka gets her another break point, which also comes and goes. A third break point also vanishes. This game has been going longer than the first three combined …
Also getting under way, on Margaret Court Arena: Stefanos Tsitsipas, who’s seeded down at 31 after his injury hell last year, against Japan’s Shintaro Mochizuki. Tsitsipas, the 2023 runner-up, leads 2-1 on serve.
What I will say, though, is that she’s surely got to back that outfit up with a performance. The beekeeper two-time former champ is up against Antonia Ruzic, the 23-year-old from Croatia who’s making only her second grand slam main draw appearance.
Naomi Osaka has made her entrance on Rod Laver. I have no words …
Fritz defeats Royer in four sets
Machac has moved two sets up on Dimitrov, leading 6-4, 6-4. And Fritz has just got the job done against Royer, advancing 7-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-3, after dominating the final two sets. A decent start for the ninth seed after his injury problems of late. “I felt very confident in the last two sets,” the American says, before revealing that he played credit card roulette with the rest of the American players at the Melbourne Nobu in Melbourne. Not sure who lost …
Boulter’s defeat, combined with Sonay Kartal’s 7-6, 6-1 loss to the 31st seed Anna Kalinskaya earlier, means Emma Raducanu is the only British woman left in the singles. She plays the Austrian Anastasia Potapova in the second round tomorrow, in the third match scheduled on the ANZ Arena, so perhaps at about 4am UK time. Cameron Norrie and the qualifier Arthur Fery also play, along with Carlos Alcaraz, Aryna Sabalenka, Alex de Minaur, Coco Gauff, Mirra Andreeva, Frances Tiafoe, Daniil Medvedev, Alex Zverev and Jasmine Paolini.
Bencic beats Boulter 6-0, 7-5
No sooner does Sinner walk off Rod Laver than Bencic breaks on Margaret Court, and this is very likely a decisive break, because it leaves the 10th seed serving for the match at 6-0, 6-5 against Boulter. Bencic gets to 30-15, then two match points when Boulter biffs her return into the net. Bencic, with her slightly shortened service action, goes long with her first serve, lands the second … and Boulter peels off the pass! But Bencic puts away a smash to complete victory. Credit to Boulter for making a match of it after the one-sided first set, but Bencic played the big points better in the second and, with an 11-0 match record this year, she’s got to be in the title conversation. “I’m loving playing in Australia,” she says in her on-court interview.
But for Sinner, the two-time defending champ is back in his happy place, and he’s speaking to Jim Courier. He says of course it’s not the way he wanted to win, but he’s very pleased with how he’s started his campaign, of course there was a bit of tension, but he’s very happy to be back.
Sinner takes second set to lead 6-2, 6-1 before Gaston retires
Sinner, to the surprise of absolutely no one, is a game away from the second set, leading 6-2, 5-0. The next game is on Gaston’s racket though, and the Frenchman does what he can, holding to 30 before, to the surprise of absolutely everyone, getting to 0-30 on the Sinner serve. But Sinner soon has 40-30, and takes the set when his wickedly angled backhand draws the error from Gaston. Then Gaston, unexpectedly, retires! Sinner embraces his opponent and a distraught Gaston has his head in his hands in the chair. Ach, what cruel luck, and it adds to all the retirements yesterday. Gaston got a bit of treatment from the trainer at the end of the first set, it wasn’t clear what for, but he didn’t look to be struggling with his movement during the match – perhaps he wasn’t feeling well.
Props to Boulter, who’s put the disappointment of that break out of her mind and has a break point of her own at 30-40. A long rally plays out … and Boulter eventually goes long with backhand. But the Brit gets another chance at her advantage … and Bencic balloons long and wide! That was tight from Bencic. It’s 4-4 in the second, after Bencic took the first 6-0.
Machac has taken the opening set 6-4 against Dimitrov, while Fritz has a set point in the third against Royer. Fritz flashes a serve down the T and that settles it. Fritz leads 7-6, 5-7, 6-1 and Royer has called for the trainer.
Boulter, after all of her hard work to get back into this match, enters the danger zone at 15-40 on her serve, Bencic working her way to two break points by showing tremendous foot speed for an incredible pick up. Bencic duly breaks and now has a 6-0, 4-3 advantage. Boulter will be kicking herself.
Boulter is hitting with more depth, purpose and confidence, which is causing Bencic a few problems. It’s as easy as you like for Sinner now, though, who speedily secures a break in the second set to lead 6-2, 2-0, but Gaston pulls off a nice volley-smash combo for 15-30 on Sinner’s serve. Sinner secures three points on the spin for 6-2, 3-0.
Gaston looks comfortable at 40-15 on serve, trailing 5-2, but Sinner steps it up just as he did in the first game of the match, and suddenly four points have whizzed by and Sinner has the set 6-2, finishing things off with a forehand winner on the run. And the first signs of frustration from Bencic, as Boulter holds for 2-1 in the second set.
Maybe he shouldn’t be retiring if he can still show this sort of athleticism at the age of 39:
Au revoir Gael. Lovely scenes on the Kia Arena:
Sinner has got the breakthrough on Rod Laver, leading Gaston 4-2 in the opener, while Fritz has been pulled back by Royer, who’s snatched the second set 7-5. Boulter is finally on the board, winning the opening game of the second set after her 6-0 shellacking in the first, while Dimitrov, playing only his fourth match since suffering that ill-timed injury when leading Sinner by two sets to love at Wimbledon last summer, is a break down, 4-3, against Machac, the man with the shortest shorts in tennis.
Boulter, meanwhile, had a disastrous 2025, falling from a career-high ranking of No 23 to No 113. She’s got renewed hope this year after hiring Maria Sharapova’s former coach Michael Joyce, who has also worked with Johanna Konta, Jessica Pegula and Victoria Azarenka. But that’s being extinguished rather brutally by Bencic, who grabs another couple of breaks and is now serving for the first set at 5-0, 30-15. Boulter nets a backhand and here are two set points. Bencic blinks on the first but smacks away a forehand winner on the second. It’s a first-set whitewash.
Fritz’s 2025 was a slight disappointment, he didn’t quite push on from his US Open final appearance in 2024, and as a result he’s no longer the highest-ranked American – that’s Ben Shelton. Fritz has also been dealing with a knee injury during the early stages of this season, but he leads Royer, the Frenchman who’s making his Australian Open debut, 7-6, 5-5.
I’m loving the new multiview action on Discovery+. It’s making this job much easier. Gone are the days of needing an extra laptop, mobile and iPad just to keep track of everything. So I’m currently keeping an eye on Sinner v Gaston, Boulter v Bencic, Fritz v Royer and Dimitrov v Machac.
Sinner shows Boulter that even the best can err early, as he slides 0-40 down on serve in the opening game. But then he suddenly remembers who he is, and the defending champ rattles down three aces and reels off five unanswered points to hold. It’s 1-0.
An inauspicious start from Boulter as she’s broken to 30. The Brit snuck into the main draw after a couple of late retirements but that’s where her luck ended, because she’s been handed a tough assignment against the Swiss, one of the most in-form players, who’s back in world’s top 10 after dropping as low as No 1,213 after the birth of her daughter in 2024. Bencic won all five of her singles matches at United Cup, including a very impressive victory against Iga Swiatek. Bencic backs up the break for 2-0.
Jannik Sinner has made his way through the new upgraded tunnel on Rod Laver, which looks like a slightly discombobulating hall of mirrors, and he’s warming up against the French left-hander Hugo Gaston. Also getting going on Margaret Court: Katie Boulter against Belinda Bencic, and Boulter is already facing break points in the opening game.
Venus Williams’s Australian Open has come to an end. After her narrow defeat in the singles on Sunday, when she became the oldest woman to play in the event at the age of 45, she’s now been knocked out of the doubles. Venus, playing alongside Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova, lost 7-6, 6-4 to France’s Elsa Jacquemot and Colombia’s Emiliana Arango. The way she was talking after her singles loss, though, this isn’t the last Melbourne has seen of her … but one player who’s just said goodbye for the last time is Gael Monfils, who’s been ousted in a near four-hour marathon, 6-7, 7-5, 6-4, 7-5, by the Australian qualifier Dane Sweeny, who’s lying on his back on the Kia Arena, as he soaks in his first ever grand slam main draw win. Monfils has already announced, like Stan Wawrinka, that this will be his final year on the tour.
What a song this is btw. It gets me a bit teary every time.
And here’s Jack Snape on that big disappointment for Joint. At 19, though, there’ll be many more chances for the US-born Australian, who was the first home player seeded in the women’s singles since Ash Barty four years ago:
Maya Joint has vowed to return to the Australian Open stronger, after the top-ranked local in the women’s singles draw crashed out in the first round on Tuesday with a straight sets defeat to Czech teenager Tereza Valentova.
Valentova made the most of an inconsistent display from the 30th seed, winning 6-4, 6-4 in 92 minutes.
Joint, at 19 and only one year older than her opponent, struggled with unforced errors and with her serve, leaving a near-full John Cain Arena shocked and disappointed in the first match of the day.
“I’ll learn a lot from this match, [and] come back stronger next year,” Joint said. “I had a few more double faults than usual, and I think I had quite a few unforced errors today. Yeah, just a tough, tough match.”
Here’s the full report:
It wasn’t altogether comfortable for Keys though, as Tumaini Carayol reports:
Fans seated in the upper bowls of the vast Rod Laver Arena are long accustomed to watching tennis from a considerable distance away, but on Tuesday afternoon they enjoyed the rare sight of the tennis ball frequently rising as high as their seats.
That is the magic of Oleksandra Oliynykova, who made life hell for Madison Keys in the first match of the American’s Australian Open title defence with a vicious concoction of drop shots, slices and, most notably, moonballs that seemed to graze the stadium roof. Despite facing two set points in the opener, Keys showed her mental fortitude as she advanced to the second round with a 7-6 (6), 6-1 victory.
This was an essential victory for Keys, but in many ways her 25-year-old Ukrainian opponent, competing in a grand slam main draw for the first time, stole the show. On the court, she has enjoyed a dramatic breakthrough year, rising from No 297 last March to her current ranking of No 92. She won 57 matches last year and seven titles, all on the lower level WTA 125 and ITF circuits.
Keys quickly learned exactly why Oliynykova has won so many matches as the Ukrainian disrupted her veteran opponent with her expert junk-balling throughout their opening set. Oliynykova deprived Keys of any rhythm, racing to a 4-0 lead. She then led 4-0 in the tie-break before earning two consecutive set points at 6-4. Keys responded with an astounding sequence of points, eviscerating four consecutive winners to take the set without hesitation. With the first set miraculously secured, the American rolled to victory.
Asked when she last faced a similar playing style, Keys was effusive about her opponent’s level. “Like 12-and-under,” she said. “And that’s obviously no disrespect to her at all, but it’s just been a really long time to play someone who plays that style, but she does it so effectively.”
You can read the rest here:
Preamble
It’s a dark, damp and dreary morning in London, and I’m scrambling around in a flu-induced fog, so turning on the TV to see the bright blue courts and evening sunshine at Melbourne Park has got me quietly singing Oasis’s Half the World Away to myself while wishing I could be teleported there ASAP. Or come back as a professional tennis player in my next life. Or persuade the powers that be that this humble live blogger deserves a trip to Melbourne next year.
Already today there have been first-round wins for the defending champion Madison Keys, the 2023 runner-up Elena Rybakina, last year’s semi-finalist Ben Shelton and the fifth seed Lorenzo Musetti, but out have gone the British No 2 Sonay Kartal, the injured Brazilian wunderkind Joao Fonseca and the Australian No 1 Maya Joint. Currently on court we’ve got Taylor Fritz plus Gael Monfils, 93, who’s pushing to take his match against the home qualifier Dane Sweeny to a fifth set, while coming up in the night session Jannik Sinner gets his title defence under way and there’s also Naomi Osaka, Britain’s Katie Boulter against the in-form Belinda Bencic, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Grigor Dimitrov and the Russian-turned-Australian Daria Kasatkina. So don’t go anywhere!
