"The draw for the year's first major was held Thursday at Melbourne Park. The tournament starts Sunday. Gauff will open against No. 91-ranked Kamilla Rakhimova. No. 576-ranked Williams, who made her Australian Open debut in 1998 and has twice reached the final, will open against No. 68-ranked Olga Danilovic. They're on the same half of the draw as top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka, who won back-to-back Australian Open titles before losing last year's final to Madison Keys."
"Defending champion Keys was drawn into the same quarter as No. 6 Jessica Pegula, and No. 4 Amanda Anisimova. No. 2-ranked Iga Świątek is in the bottom quarter on that side of the draw and has a potential fourth-round match against Naomi Osaka. Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic landed in the same half of the draw, setting up a potential semifinal between the defending champion and the 24-time major winner. Top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz is on the opposite side of the draw to Sinner and Djokovic."
Coco Gauff and Venus Williams could meet in the Australian Open second round, more than six years after their first major meeting. Gauff is seeded No. 3 and is a two-time major champion. Williams received a wild-card entry at age 45 and will become the oldest woman to compete in an Australian Open main draw. Gauff opens against Kamilla Rakhimova; Williams opens against Olga Danilovic. Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka, Emma Raducanu, Madison Keys, Jessica Pegula, Amanda Anisimova, Iga Świątek, Naomi Osaka, Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic, and Carlos Alcaraz all occupy notable positions with potential high-profile matchups.
Read at ESPN.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]