MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Aryna Sabalenka and Carlos Alcaraz lived up to expectations on the opening night of the Australian Open, with the two top seeds scoring straight-set victories in a Sunday session that began with tennis royalty Rod Laver and Roger Federer in the audience.
The Rod Laver Arena was packed for their first round matches, capping a day that saw a record 100,763 fans fill Melbourne Park.
Venus Williams, 45, also set a record, becoming the oldest player in Australia’s women’s singles draw.
At the John Cain Arena, known as the People’s Court because it is open to fans with general access passes, Williams was two breaks of serve at 4-0 in the third set before Olga Danilovic rallied to win six straight games for a 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4 victory.
The seven-time Grand Slam champion, who received a wild card in just her second Slama since returning to the circuit last year, plans to continue in doubles.
“I’m really proud of my effort today because I’m playing better with each game, getting to the places I want to get to,” she said. “Right now I just have to move forward and work on myself.”
Sabalenka admitted she was a little nervous with Laver and Federer in the crowd during her first-round victory. She lost the first three points and dropped her initial service game before recovering to beat Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah 6-4, 6-1.
“I didn’t start off in the best way. She came in full swing. She was playing great,” Sabalenka said of left-hander Rakotomanga Rajaonah, a 20-year-old Frenchwoman who received a wildcard.
“It was a complicated start. I’m super happy to have found my rhythm at the end of the second set,” added the tournament champion in 2023 and 2024 and who lost last year’s final to Madison Keys.
In her on-court interview, Sabalenka said she had taken a look and saw Laver, the Australian star for whom the tournament’s main court is named, and Federer, the 20-time major champion, sitting in adjacent seats.
“I’m a big fan. I wanted to show great tennis so that you could enjoy watching me play,” she said. “There was definitely a lot of pressure. I was walking around thinking ‘don’t look there, don’t look there!'”
The first day of the 15 scheduled closed with Alcaraz winning 6-3, 7-6 (2), 6-2 over Adam Walton to start on the right foot his attempt to establish a record as the youngest player to complete the collection of Grand Slam titles.
“There cannot be a better scenario than this,” said the Spaniard. “It was a great match. Adam showed a great level and put me in trouble, which is good for a first rounder. I’m happy with my level.”
Day 1
Alexander Zverev, who lost to Jannik Sinner in the final at Melbourne Park last year, overcame a slow start to beat Gabriel Diallo 6-7 (7), 6-1, 6-4, 6-2. The German advanced to the second round for the tenth consecutive year.
“Definitely, when I saw the draw, I wasn’t very happy, to be honest,” Zverev said of the difficult challenge presented by the 41st-ranked Diallo. “He’s very young, very talented. Incredibly aggressive.”
Two of the seeds in the women’s draw were eliminated on the opening afternoon. Elsa Jacquemot eliminated number 20 Marta Kostyuk by 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7) and the Turkish Zeynep Sönmez, from the classification, surprised number 11 Ekaterina Alexandrova by 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.
Sönmez briefly stopped his match in the second set to help a ball boy who appeared to be having difficulty in the heat before the tournament’s medical team took over.
Seventh seed Jasmine Paolini beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-1, 6-2, and No. 12 Elina Svitolina and Maria Sakkari also advanced in straight sets.
Former Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova withdrew due to a shoulder injury before her scheduled first-round match, giving a main draw spot to lucky loser Taylor Townsend to face Hailey Baptiste. In a 2 and a half hour duel between Americans, Baptiste triumphed 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-3.
Three of the four Argentines who played in the men’s team emerged victorious: Francisco Cerúndolo, Tomás Martín Etcheverry and Francisco Comesaña.
Cerúndolo (18th seed) defeated China’s Zhang Zhizhen 6-3, 7-6 (0), 6-3; Etcheverry defeated Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic 6-2, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4; and Comesaña defeated the American Patrick Kypson 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Camilo Ugo Carabelli lost 7-6 (5), 6-1, 6-2 to Hungarian Marton Fucsovics.
This story was translated from English by an AP editor with the help of a generative artificial intelligence tool.
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