Aussies in action on day four
Upcoming (all times AEDT):
- James Duckworth vs Roberto Carballés Baena second on Court 3
- Jordan Thompson (27) vs Nuno Borges not before 1pm on John Cain Arena
- Sebastian Korda (22) vs Aleksandar Vukic not before 2pm on Kia Arena
- Diana Shnaider vs Ajla Tomljanović (WC) from 5pm on John Cain Arena
- Jack Draper (15) vs Thanasi Kokkinakis not before 7pm on John Cain Arena
- Paula Badosa (11) vs Talia Gibson (WC) last on Margaret Court Arena
Sabalenka ready to step up
The world number one has Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in the second round after breezing past Sloane Stephens in her opening match. By her own admission she wasn’t at her best in that one, but when you’re the top seed you have the freedom to ease into your tournament.
Sabalenka is the favourite to take out the women’s singles again this year. She’ll have all eyes on her this morning as the challenges start getting a bit harder.
It’s a bit wet out there
Hopefully the courts will dry out as quick as possible!
Thank goodness for ball kids…our heroes.
Alexei Popyrin rocked by early exit
It hasn’t been a great summer so far for Alexei Popyrin, who followed up a first-round loss at the Brisbane International with a first-round loss at the Australian Open.
“It’s been a very disappointing month for me, come to Australia off the back of your best year, lose two matches is not something I kind of expected.
“We’re going to have to take a step back, look at what went wrong, and just work from there.
“I haven’t been in this position before, so I don’t really know what I have to do, but it’s all part of the experience.”
Get the full story on Popyrin’s loss to Corentin Moutet below:
No.5 seed Qinwen takes on Siegemund
Our first match of the day is about to begin on John Cain Arena as No.5 seed Zheng Qinwen takes on Germany’s Laura Siegemund.
Rain causing havoc
So, we’ve just heard that there’ll be no play on the outdoor courts until 11:30am (AEDT).
But that doesn’t mean there’s no tennis on till then!
Play on John Cain Arena will start at 11am and then on Rod Laver Arena and Margaret Court Arena at 11:30am as scheduled.
Here’s which matches are first up this morning:
- RLA: Aryna Sabalenka (1) vs Olga Danilović
- MCA: Jessica Pegula (7) vs Elise Mertens
- John Cain Arena: Laura Siegemund vs Qinwen Zheng (5)
- Kia Arena: Liudmila Samsonova (25) vs Olga Danilović
- 1573 Arena: Reilly Opelka vs Tomáš Macháč (26)
- Court 3: Mirra Andreeva (14) vs Moyuka Uchijima
- Court 6: Suzan Lamens vs Belinda Bencic
- Court 7: Tatjana Maria vs Clara Tauson
- Court 13: Magdalena Fręch (23) vs Anna Blinkova
Plus, we can’t forget that doubles action gets underway today!
Alex De Minaur breezes through first round
Alex de Minaur looked at his imposing best in an impressive first-round showing at Melbourne Park last night.
Up against Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp on Rod Laver Arena , the Aussie looked every bit the player who is ready to do some serious winning.
“The motivation has never been higher,” Demon told reporters after the win.
Here’s the full story from my colleague Chris De Silva:
Welcome to the second round!
Are you excited? I’m excited.
It’s day four at Melbourne Park and we have a star-studded line-up.
Aryna Sabalenka will continue her campaign first up on Rod laver Arena at 11.30 (AEDT) followed by Novak Djokovic, who’s looking to add to his 24 grand slam titles.
Fans of Australian tennis stars are also in for a treat.
The round-two Aussie action begins when world No. 27 Jordan Thompson takes on Nuno Borges of Portugal on John Cain Arena.
James Duckworth and Aleksandar Vukic will also be trying to progress through to the third round.
All eyes will be on the night clashes when the action heats up.
Ajla Tomljanovic, Thanasi Kokkinakis, and wildcard Talia Gibson all face tough asks — bring it on, I say.
I’m Hanan Dervisevic and I’ll be joined by a host of my ABC Sport colleagues once again today, so please stick around and don’t forget to leave a comment up above. We love to know what you’re thinking.
Let’s get into it!
