Australian Open 2026: The Happy Slam Begins Down Under

Australian Open
Australian Open (photo: Tennis Australia/Vince Caligiuri)

MELBOURNE/WASHINGTON, January 18, 2026 (by Michael Dickens)

Australian Open 2026 launched across Melbourne Park on a Sunday for just the third time since expanding to 15 days. There was star power headlining on Rod Laver Arena, with two-time major finalist and current women’s World No. 7 Jasmine Paolini and last year’s AO finalist and current men’s No. 3 Alexander Zverev featured during the day session. Meanwhile, two-time AO champion and current women’s No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and current men’s No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz were the stars of the night session.

With a total of 16 men’s and 16 women’s singles matches spread across 10 courts, there was plenty of appealing tennis for everyone to appreciate on the first day at the Happy Slam – including four five-set men’s thrillers – and the fans came out in record numbers. A total of 100,763 spectators came to Melbourne Park – breaking the previous Day 1 Sunday record of 87,705 set in 2024 – and it also broke the total day tournament record of 97,132 set on Day 6 of the 2025 Australian Open.

Sabalenka shows strength and consistency in opening win

It’s been a year since two-time Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka was upset by Madison Keys in the 2025 title match at Melbourne Park.

“That final was a tough one,” Sabalenka recalled during her pre-tournament news conference on Friday. “She played incredible and overplayed me. It took me a little time to recover.

“We had matches after that. I kind of worked on my mistake in those matches. 

“Going into this AO, I’m not really focusing on that result. But of course, I would like to do just a little bit better than I did last year.”

With Hall of Fame great Rod Laver and 20-time major winner Roger Federer looking on, the World No. 1 from Belarus, who a week ago won the Brisbane International title, faced 20-year-old French wild card Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah on Rod Laver Arena Sunday evening. The 27-year-old Sabalenka lost the first three points and dropped her opening service game before righting herself to win 6-4, 6-1 over the 118th-ranked Rakotomanga Rajaonah. 

The victory, Sabalenka’s 101st major win and 15th consecutive Grand Slam triumph against a player ranked outside the Top 100, moved her one round closer to her third-straight Australian Open final. Next, Sabalenka will face 702nd-ranked Chinese qualifier Bai Zhuoxuan, who upset No. 47 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (10), in two hours and 43 minutes.

“I didn’t start my best. She showed up. Fired on. She was playing great,” Sabalenka said afterward during her post-match news conference. “It was a tricky start. I’m super happy I found my rhythm at the end of the second set. … I mean, first of all, its the first match, right? You’re always kind of trying to figure out where you are.”

Meanwhile, the 20-year-old lefty Rakotomanga Rajaonah, who was born in Madagascar, was making her Australian Open debut and just her second appearance in a major after losing in the first round at Roland-Garros last year.

Alcaraz begins quest to win career Grand Slam with victory

When World No. 1 and top seed Carlos Alcaraz of Spain walked out on Rod Laver Arena for his first-round match against No. 79 Adam Walton of Australia, it marked the first time the 22-year-old Alcaraz had faced an Aussie in Melbourne. It was also his first match since parting ways with his longtime coach Juan Carlos Ferrero, who mentored the young Spaniard to six major titles.

With his 6-3, 7-6 (2), 6-2 victory over Walton, completed in a tidy two hours and five minutes, Alcaraz has won all 13 matches he has contested against Australian players at Tour-level – and he’s 1-0 under new coach Samuel Lopez.

Now, with career win No. 281 secured, Alcaraz has moved one round closer to achieving a career Grand Slam. He arrived in Melbourne needing only to win the Australian Open to add to his collection of two Roland-Garros, two Wimbledon and two US Open titles. 

Against Walton, Alcaraz hit 38 winners – including eight aces – and converted four of 10 break points. He outpointed Walton 101-73.

“I am really happy to step onto the court once again for the first time this season. It could not have been better, playing here on the Rod Laver Arena,” Alcaraz said during his on-court interview. “It was a good match. I felt great and Adam pulled off some great shots, a great level in the match, so I had to stay there at this kind of level.”

Next, the 22-year-old Spaniard will face No. 102 Yannick Hanfmann of Germany, who defeated 143rd-ranked American qualifier Zachary Svajda, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3).

Williams becomes oldest player ever in AO women’s singles draw

At age 45 and ranked No. 576, wild card entrant Venus Williams of the United States became the oldest player to compete in singles at the Australian Open on Sunday.

Entering the tournament on a five-match losing streak and playing in her second major since returning to pro tennis last summer, the seven-time major champion Williams lost to No. 69 Olga Danilovic of Serbia, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4, in two hours and 17 minutes on John Cain Arena. Williams was up two service breaks at 4-0 in the final set before the 24-year-old Danilovic came back to win six straight games to pull out the victory.

Twice a finalist in Melbourne, in 2003 and 2017, Williams has not won a Grand Slam singles match since Wimbledon in 2021.

“I’m really proud of my effort today because I’m playing better with each match, getting to the places that I want to get to,” Williams said in her post-match news conference. “Right now, I’m just going to have to keep going forward and working on myself.”

Around the Australian Open

• World No. 3 Alexander Zverev of Germany, last year’s runner-up to Jannik Sinner, overcame a sluggish start against No. 41 Gabriel Diallo and beat the Canadian, 6-7 (1), 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 on Rod Laver Arena Sunday afternoon to advance to the second round for the 10th straight year at Melbourne Park.

“Definitely, when I saw the draw, [I] wasn’t too happy to be honest. He’s very young, very talented. Unbelievably aggressive,” the third-seeded Zverev said.

“First set wasn’t my best tennis, I would say. It got a lot better after that for me.”

Zverev, who struck 15 aces and hit 36 winners overall, withstood 31 aces by Diallo and benefited from his opponent’s 46 unforced errors. Zverev outpointed Diallo’s 118-92.

• World No. 7 Jasmine Paolini of Italy needed just 69 minutes to beat eliminate 102nd-ranked qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus, 6-1, 6-2, by taking advantage of 39 unforced errors while converting four of 10 break points in the opening match of the day session on Rod Laver Arena.

Paolini quipped: “When I saw the schedule I was like ‘Okay, if I’m going to lose … it’s the first match of the tournament on Rod Laver, so it’s going to be bad.’ But I won. It’s Sunday. I can enjoy the day. It’s great!”

• No. 10 seed Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan, competing as a Top-10 player for the first time, earned his first win at the Australian Open in four years with his 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win over No. 48 Jenson Brooksby of the United States on Margaret Court Arena in two hours and four minutes, in back of 13 aces and 47 winners 

• American qualifier Michael Zheng, ranked 174th, upset No. 51 Sebastian Korda, 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (0), 6-3, in three hours and 43 minutes on Kia Arena to earn a dream first win in his tour-level debut. The 21-year-old senior at Colombia University in New York City, a two-time NCAA individual titlist in 2024-25, withstood 22 aces and 71 winners from Korda. He finished with 37 winners of his own and converted four of eight break points despite being outpointed 163-153.

 

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• Arthur Fery, a 185th-ranked British qualifier upset World No. 22 and 20th seed Flavio Cobolli of Italy, 7-6 (1), 6-4, 6-1, in two hours and 12 minutes on John Cain Arena for his third career tour-level victory. Fery hit 20 winners, converted six of 10 break points and benefited from 38 unforced errors by Cobolli.

• A quartet of men’s seeds – No. 18 Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina, No. 26 Cameron Norrie of Great Britain, No. 29 Frances Tiafoe of the United States and No. 32 Corentin Moutet of France – all won. Norrie was pushed to five sets before beating 106th-ranked Benjamin Bonzi of France, 6-0, 6-7 (2), 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, in three hours and 39 minutes on 1573 Arena.

• Tomas Etcheverry of Argentina and Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia battled for five sets stretched over three hours and 54 minutes on 1573 Arena before the 62nd-ranked Argentine rallied to win, 6-2, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, in back of 20 aces and 62 winners. The two competitors combined for 284 points in the longest men’s match of Day 1.

• There were two Top-20 women’s seeds who were upset on Day 1: No. 20 Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine was ousted by No. 60 Elsa Jacquemot of France, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7), in three hours and 31 minutes – the longest women’s match of the day and the longest women’s match since third-set tie-breaks were introduced in 2019 – and No. 11 Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia lost to 112th-ranked Turkish qualifier Zeynep Sonmez, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.

It was the 22-year-old Jacquemot’s first Top-20 win and first main draw victory at the Australian Open.

Meanwhile, a pair of women’s seeds – No. 12 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine and No. 28 Emma Raducanu of Great Britain – won to advance to the second round. Svitolina defeated No. 51 Cristina Bucsa of Spain, 6-4, 6-1, and Raducanu spoiled the Grand Slam main draw debut of 196th-ranked Mananchaya Sawangkaew of Thailand, 6-4, 6-1.

• Former Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova of Czechia withdrew with a shoulder injury, which gave doubles No. 1 seed Taylor Townsend a lucky loser berth in the singles main draw. Townsend lost to fellow American Hailey Baptiste, 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-3, on Court 13.

Sunday’s Australian Open results

Monday’s Australian Open order of play

Tuesday’s Australian Open order of play

By the numbers

• There are 21 Americans in the men’s singles draw – the most to compete at any Grand Slam excluding the US Open since 1995 Wimbledon. On Sunday, the American men went 3-4 with victories collected by No. 29 seed Frances Tiafoe, 174th-ranked qualifier Michael Zheng and No. 89 Ernesto Nava.

• Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have met in the last three major finals which made 2025 the first season since 1964, when Aussie Roy Emerson and Fred Stolle did it, that the same two men faced each other in three major title matches.

Meanwhile, the women produced four different Grand Slam winners last year: Madison Keys, Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka.

• First match in the books for AO 2026: 119th-ranked Australian wild card Talia Gibson defeated No. 64 Anna Blinkova of Russia, 6-1, 6-3, in an hour and 16 minutes on Kia Arena.

• First upset of the fortnight: No. 26 seed Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine lost to No. 79 Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania, 6-4, 7-5, in one hour and 48 minutes on ANZ Arena. Ruse outpointed Yastremska 80-70.

“Quotable …”

“It feels great to be back. It feels like home. I’ve been here 10 years now. I’ve had the same locker since the first day I’ve been here. So, all these types of things just make it a whole lot easier.”

– World No. 6 Alex de Minaur of Australia, during his pre-tournament news conference, on appearing in his 10th Australian Open men’s singles main draw at age 26.

 

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