Online Reporter
TOP-RANKED Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka launched their Australian Open tennis title bids with straight-sets wins but there was no fairytale for 45-year-old Venus Williams yesterday.
On a hot Melbourne day in which a ball girl fainted, last year’s men’s beaten finalist Alexander Zverev dropped a set before easing into the second round.
World No 1 Alcaraz joined him, the Spaniard beating 81st-ranked home player Adam Walton 6-3, 7-6 (7/2), 6-2 on Rod Laver Arena.
Alcaraz, who is desperate to win the Australian Open to complete the career Grand Slam of all four majors, plays Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann next.
“I think this kind of level and the difficulties in the first round is pretty good for me,” said Alcaraz, who was pushed all the way in the second set.
Alcaraz has won the US Open, Wimbledon and French Open, but Melbourne is the one Grand Slam missing from his impressive resume. The furthest he has gone at the opening major of the year is the quarter-finals and he has made it clear that dethroning rival Jannik Sinner as champion is his main aim for 2026.
Olga Danilovic of Serbia thwarted Venus Williams’ historic attempt to become the oldest woman to win a main-draw singles match at the Australian Open.
Williams fell short in a three-set thriller, with Danilovic prevailing 6-7, 6-3, 6-4.
Earlier, in steamy conditions approaching highs of 30C, Zverev threatened to implode in losing the first set to Canada’s Gabriel Diallo.
But the 28-year-old German recovered to win 6-7 (1/7), 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 and next meets Australian Alexei Popyrin or Alexandre Muller of France. Asked how he reset from his first-set wobble, the third seed said: “I was thinking it can’t get worse than that.”
British qualifier Arthur Fery scored the first big upset by taking down 20th seed Flavio Cobolli of Italy, 7-6 (7/1), 6-4, 6-1.
Novak Djokovic, who is chasing a record 25th major title, begins his title assault today, as does three-time runner-up Daniil Medvedev.
Organisers said that a record 100 000 people came through the gates, although there were complaints about long queues in the heat.
Underlining how fierce it was on court, a ball girl collapsed during the match between Zeynep Sonmez and Ekaterina Alexandrova, with both players rushing to help her. — AFP Sport.
