MELBOURNE (Reuters) – The Australian Open first round continues with fifth seed Daniil Medvedev, home favourite Alex de Minaur and Italy’s Jasmine Paolini among those in action, while Taylor Fritz battles Jenson Brooksby in one of three all-American clashes on Tuesday.
The biggest crowds of Day Three are expected to gather for the four Australians in action at Melbourne Park, where wildcard Emerson Jones will face former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina.
TOP MEN’S MATCH: FRITZ V BROOKSBY
Fourth seed Fritz comes into the tournament fresh off winning the United Cup in Sydney with the United States and looking to build on a strong 2024 season where he reached the U.S. Open and ATP Finals title deciders.
Fritz remains the favourite to break a U.S. trophy drought in men’s Grand Slams which stretches into its 22nd year but the 27-year-old is taking things one game at a time.
“Last year I was happy with all my slam results. I want to treat it the same way,” the American number one said.
“The worst thing I can do is be looking super far ahead in the draw.”
Brooksby is coming back from an 18-month doping suspension for whereabouts failures, which was reduced to 13 months on appeal.
The 24-year-old has not played since the 2023 Australian Open but he will surely take inspiration from his victory over Fritz at the U.S. Open in 2021.
TOP WOMEN’S MATCH: RYBAKINA V JONES
With no Australian woman inside the top 100 and the country seeking an heir to 2022 champion Ash Barty, Jones is their next best bet as the junior world number one makes her Grand Slam debut at 16 as a wildcard.
“I think it’s great when people say that I’m following in Ash Barty’s footsteps… Obviously it’s going to take a lot to get where she was,” said Jones, who claimed her first Tour level match win in Adelaide last week.
Jones faces former Wimbledon champion Rybakina, who arrives in Melbourne facing questions about the provisional suspension of her former coach Stefano Vukov.
She is also looking to “stay healthy” after skipping many tournaments last year.
“I was not able to participate in big events. For me to play from beginning till end of the year… I want to win big titles, this is my goal on court,” she said.
NO PLACE LIKE HOME FOR DE MINAUR
De Minaur kicks off the night session at Rod Laver Arena against Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp and the Australian number one said there was nothing better than starting the season on home soil.
“As Australian tennis players, we spend the majority of the year overseas. To get the chance and opportunity to start the year here at home in the summer, it just means the world,” he said.
AUSTRALIAN OPEN ORDER OF PLAY ON TUESDAY
Here is the order of play on the main showcourts on the third day of the Australian Open (prefix number denotes seeding):
ROD LAVER ARENA
Day session (0030 GMT/1130 AEDT)
8-Emma Navarro (U.S.) v Peyton Stearns (U.S.)
Kasidit Samrej (Thailand) v 5-Daniil Medvedev (Russia)
Night session (0800 GMT/1900 AEDT)
Botic van de Zandschulp (Netherlands) v 8-Alex de Minaur (Australia)
Veronika Kudermetova (Russia) v Olivia Gadecki (Australia)
MARGARET COURT ARENA
Day session (0030 GMT/1130 AEDT)
Zhizhen Zhang (China) v 13-Holger Rune (Denmark)
6-Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan) v Emerson Jones (Australia)
Night session (0800 GMT/1900 AEDT)
Sijia Wei (China) v 4-Jasmine Paolini (Italy)
9-Andrey Rublev (Russia) v Joao Fonseca (Brazil)
JOHN CAIN ARENA
Day session (0000 GMT/1100 AEDT)
Viktoriya Tomova (Bulgaria) v 9-Daria Kasatkina (Russia)
4-Taylor Fritz (U.S.) v Jenson Brooksby (U.S.)
Twilight session (0600 GMT/1700 AEDT)
19-Madison Keys (U.S.) v Ann Li (U.S.)
Night session (0800 GMT/1900 AEDT)
25-Alexei Popyrin (Australia) v Corentin Moutet (France)
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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