Top-ranked Sabalenka and Alcaraz advance on an opening day of records at the Australian Open
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4:35 PM on Saturday, January 17
By JOHN PYE
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Aryna Sabalenka and Carlos Alcaraz fulfilled expectations on opening night of the Australian Open, the No. 1 seeds advancing in straight sets in a Sunday session that started with tennis royalty Rod Laver and Roger Federer in the crowd.
Rod Laver Arena was heaving for their first-round matches, capping a day when a record total of 100,763 fans packed into Melbourne Park.
The 45-year-old Venus Williams set a record, too, becoming the oldest player ever in the women's singles draw at the Australian Open.
Out on John Cain Arena, the so-called People's Court because it's open to fans with ground passes, Williams was up two service breaks at 4-0 in the third set before Olga Danilovic rallied to win six straight games in a 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4 victory.
The seven-time major winner, playing on a wild-card entry in the singles in just her second major since returning to the tour last year, plans to continue in doubles.
“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,” she said. “Right now I’m just going to have to keep going forward and working on myself.”
Sabalenka fended off left-handed wild-card entry Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah, 6-4, 6-1 after dropping the opening service game.
“I didn’t start my best. She showed up. Fired on. She was playing great,” said Sabalenka, who won the Australian title in 2023 and ’24 and was runner-up last year. “It was a tricky start.”
Sabalenka prepared for the first major of the season with a title in Brisbane but was a little more nervous than usual because Laver, the Australian great, and 20-time major winner Federer were watching.
“I’m a huge fan. I wanted to show great tennis so you guys enjoyed watching me play,” she said. “There was definitely a lot of pressure. I was walking, thinking ‘don’t look there, don’t look there!’”
Her next round is against Chinese qualifier Bai Zhuoxuan, who outlasted 2021 French Open runner-up Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (10) in a 2-hour, 43-minute match. No. 28 Emma Raducanu, who could potentially meet Sabalenka in the third round, beat Mananchaya Sawangkaew 6-4, 6-1.
Day 1 of a scheduled 15 closed with Alcaraz winning 6-3, 7-6 (2), 6-2 over Adam Walton, beginning his bid to set a record for being the youngest player to complete a career Grand Slam.
Alexander Zverev, runner-up here last year to Jannik Sinner, shrugged off a sluggish start to beat Gabriel Diallo 6-7 (7), 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 to reach the second round at Melbourne Park for the 10th straight year.
“Definitely, when I saw the draw, wasn’t too happy to be honest,” Zverev said of the tricky challenge presented by No. 41-ranked Diallo. “He’s very young, very talented. Unbelievably aggressive.”
No. 10 Alexander Bublik advanced over Jenson Brooksby 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, No. 29 Frances Tiafoe overpowered Jason Kubler 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-2 and Michael Zheng fended off Sebastian Korda 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (0), 6-3 in an all-American first-rounder.
Zheng, a college star at Columbia who advanced through qualifying to make his tour-level debut, will next face No. 32 Corentin Moutet, who was booed after his underarm serve on match point in a 6-4, 7-6 (1), 6-3 win over Tristan Schoolkate.
Two of the women’s seeds went out in the opening afternoon, with Elsa Jacquemot ousting No. 20 Marta Kostyuk 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7) and Turkish qualifier Zeynep Sönmez upsetting No. 11 Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.
Sönmez halted her match briefly in the second set to help a ballkid who appeared to be struggling in the heat before the tournament medical team took over.
Seventh-seeded Jasmine Paolini, No. 12 Elina Svitolina and Maria Sakkari all advanced in straight sets.
Former Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova withdrew because of a shoulder injury before her scheduled first-round match, giving a place in the main draw to Taylor Townsend, the lucky loser from qualifying, to take on Hailey Baptiste.
In a 2 1/2-hour all-American contest on Court 13, Baptiste prevailed 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-3.
Coco Gauff will open play Monday on Rod Laver Arena against Kamilla Rakhimova. Iga Swiatek and Novak Djokovic have night matches.
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