Key events
I’m loving the new multiview action on Discovery+. It’s making this job much easier. Gone are the days of needing an extra laptop, mobile and iPad just to keep track of everything. So I’m currently keeping an eye on Sinner v Gaston, Boulter v Bencic, Fritz v Royer and Dimitrov v Machac.
Sinner shows Boulter that even the best can err early, as he slides 0-40 down on serve in the opening game. But then he suddenly remembers who he is, and the defending champ rattles down three aces and reels off five unanswered points to hold. It’s 1-0.
An inauspicious start from Boulter as she’s broken to 30. The Brit snuck into the main draw after a couple of late retirements but that’s where her luck ended, because she’s been handed a tough assignment against the Swiss, one of the most in-form players, who’s back in world’s top 10 after dropping as low as No 1,213 after the birth of her daughter in 2024. Bencic won all five of her singles matches at United Cup, including a very impressive victory against Iga Swiatek. Bencic backs up the break for 2-0.
Jannik Sinner has made his way through the new upgraded tunnel on Rod Laver, which looks like a slightly discombobulating hall of mirrors, and he’s warming up against the French left-hander Hugo Gaston. Also getting going on Margaret Court: Katie Boulter against Belinda Bencicand Boulter is already facing break points in the opening game.
Venus Williams’s Australian Open has come to an end. After her narrow defeat in the singles on Sunday, when she became the oldest woman to play in the event at the age of 45, she’s now been knocked out of the doubles. Venus, playing alongside Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova, lost 7-6, 6-4 to France’s Elsa Jacquemot and Colombia’s Emiliana Arango. The way she was talking after her singles loss, though, this isn’t the last Melbourne has seen of her … but one player who’s just said goodbye for the last time is Gael Monfils, who’s been ousted in a near four-hour marathon, 6-7, 7-5, 6-4, 7-5, by the Australian qualifier Dane Sweenywho’s lying on his back on the Kia Arena, as he soaks in his first ever grand slam main draw win. Monfils has already announced, like Stan Wawrinka, that this will be his final year on the tour.
What a song this is btw. It gets me a bit teary every time.
And here’s Jack Snape on that big disappointment for Joint. At 19, though, there’ll be many more chances for the US-born Australian, who was the first home player seeded in the women’s singles since Ash Barty four years ago:
Maya Joint has vowed to return to the Australian Open stronger, after the top-ranked local in the women’s singles draw crashed out in the first round on Tuesday with a straight sets defeat to Czech teenager Tereza Valentova.
Valentova made the most of an inconsistent display from the 30th seed, winning 6-4, 6-4 in 92 minutes.
Joint, at 19 and only one year older than her opponent, struggled with unforced errors and with her serve, leaving a near-full John Cain Arena shocked and disappointed in the first match of the day.
“I’ll learn a lot from this match, [and] come back stronger next year,” Joint said. “I had a few more double faults than usual, and I think I had quite a few unforced errors today. Yeah, just a tough, tough match.”
Here’s the full report:
It wasn’t altogether comfortable for Keys though, as Tumaini Carayol reports:
Fans seated in the upper bowls of the vast Rod Laver Arena are long accustomed to watching tennis from a considerable distance away, but on Tuesday afternoon they enjoyed the rare sight of the tennis ball frequently rising as high as their seats.
That is the magic of Oleksandra Oliynykova, who made life hell for Madison Keys in the first match of the American’s Australian Open title defence with a vicious concoction of drop shots, slices and, most notably, moonballs that seemed to graze the stadium roof. Despite facing two set points in the opener, Keys showed her mental fortitude as she advanced to the second round with a 7-6 (6), 6-1 victory.
This was an essential victory for Keys, but in many ways her 25-year-old Ukrainian opponent, competing in a grand slam main draw for the first time, stole the show. On the court, she has enjoyed a dramatic breakthrough year, rising from No 297 last March to her current ranking of No 92. She won 57 matches last year and seven titles, all on the lower level WTA 125 and ITF circuits.
Keys quickly learned exactly why Oliynykova has won so many matches as the Ukrainian disrupted her veteran opponent with her expert junk-balling throughout their opening set. Oliynykova deprived Keys of any rhythm, racing to a 4-0 lead. She then led 4-0 in the tie-break before earning two consecutive set points at 6-4. Keys responded with an astounding sequence of points, eviscerating four consecutive winners to take the set without hesitation. With the first set miraculously secured, the American rolled to victory.
Asked when she last faced a similar playing style, Keys was effusive about her opponent’s level. “Like 12-and-under,” she said. “And that’s obviously no disrespect to her at all, but it’s just been a really long time to play someone who plays that style, but she does it so effectively.”
You can read the rest here:
Preamble
It’s a dark, damp and dreary morning in London, and I’m scrambling around in a flu-induced fog, so turning on the TV to see the bright blue courts and evening sunshine at Melbourne Park has got me quietly singing Oasis’s Half the World Away to myself while wishing I could be teleported there ASAP. Or come back as a professional tennis player in my next life. Or persuade the powers that be that this humble live blogger deserves a trip to Melbourne next year.
Already today there have been first-round wins for the defending champion Madison Keysthe 2023 runner-up Elena Rybakinalast year’s semi-finalist Ben Shelton and the fifth seed Lorenzo Musettibut out have gone the British No 2 Sonay Kartalthe injured Brazilian wunderkind Joao Fonseca and the Australian No 1 Maya Joint. Currently on court we’ve got Taylor Fritz plus Gael Monfils93, who’s pushing to take his match against the home qualifier Dane Sweeny to a fifth set, while coming up in the night session Jannik Sinner gets his title defence under way and there’s also Naomi OsakaBritain’s Katie Boulter against the in-form Belinda Bencic, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Grigor Dimitrov and the Russian-turned-Australian Daria Kasatkina. So don’t go anywhere!
