The first Grand Slam of the year kicked off in Melbourne on Sunday, and the seeds for the Australian Open were already trickling out.
“I didn’t expect that! I was solid, I was focused. Before the match I was honestly a bit nervous, but then I stepped onto the court and felt good from the first ball. I stayed focused, because in tennis you never know.” Jasmine Paolini
Marketa Vondrousova, the No. 32 seed, didn’t even hit a ball as the Czech withdrew with a shoulder injury.
Vondrousova, who won her only Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in 2023, has struggled with her form since a quarter-final finish at the US Open last year that included several first-round exits.
“I am truly sorry that I had to withdraw from the Australian Open due to ongoing shoulder problems,” she wrote on Instagram. “After everything I’ve been through, I have to prioritize my health, even though this decision wasn’t easy. Thank you all for your understanding and support.”
Vondrousova was scheduled to play American Hailey Baptiste in the first round, who instead faced fellow countrywoman Taylor Townsend, a lucky loser.
Townsend, who lost to Australia’s Storm Hunter in the third qualifying round, was given a surprise chance to build on her US Open run to the fourth round, where she eliminated No. 5 seed Mirra Andreeva before losing to two-time Grand Slam champion Barbora Krejčíková in one of the tournament’s matches.
Unfortunately for the 29-year-old, who had to quickly get ready for the match, her chance was short-lived as Baptiste outlasted her 6-3 6-7(3) 6-3 in an up-and-down match, and she now moves on to face either Hunter or Spain’s Jéssica Bouzas Maneiro in the second round.
There are a number of absentees from Melbourne Park this year, including Grand Slam finalists and former Top 10 stars Ons Jabeur and Danielle Collins, the former unable to travel due to maternity leave and the latter focusing on her health.
2024 Australian Open runner-up Zheng Qinwen was scheduled to be seeded 25th but is nursing an elbow injury, while 31st-seeded Veronika Kudermetova is also absent due to personal reasons.
Lois Boisson, one of the breakout stars of 2025 after reaching the semi-finals of the French Open, was set to make her Australian Open debut after rising to No. 36 in the WTA rankings, but the Frenchwoman will not feature as she is still not 100% after struggling with hand and forearm injuries in recent months.
As a result, Kaja Juvan, Leolia Jeanjean, Polina Kudermetova and Katie Boulter are among the WTA players promoted to the main draw.
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In Sunday’s Day 1 action, Russia’s world No. 11 Ekaterina Alexandrova was the top seed at the hands of Turkish qualifier Zeynep Sönmez.
The 23-year-old Turk breezed through qualifying without dropping a set, and her 7-5 4-6 6-4 upset marked her first main-draw victory at the Australian Open, and the second over a Top 20 opponent of her career.
The decisive moment came when Sönmez was 1-3 down in the deciding set, when she fired a forehand before hitting a soft drop shot, which Alexandrova tracked down and answered with a perfectly angled forehand of her own, after which the Turk sprinted yards past the touchline to retrieve it, setting the crowd on fire and kick-starting the match’s momentum.
Sönmez, who had lost to Alexandrova in the third round of Wimbledon last year, later left the 1573 Arena to a standing ovation, draped in a Turkish flag.
She will face the winner of Monday’s match between Hungary’s Anna Bondar and Elizabeth Mandlik of the US.
Elsa Jacquemot upset No. 20 Marta Kostyuk in 3 tiebreak sets, the first match of the Open Era to go the full distance
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Two Ukrainians, No. 20 seed Marta Kostyuk, and 26th seed Dayana Yastremska, were both casualties of the opening round.
Kostyuk’s death came at the hands of France’s Elsa Jacquemot, who made history with the first women’s singles match with three tiebreaks at the Australian Open in the Open Era.
Jacquemot played in her first main draw of the tournament and triumphed 6-7(4) 7-6(4) 7-6[10-7]in 30 degree heat after 3 hours and 31 minutes
Things looked dire for the 22-year-old Frenchwoman in the second set, when Kostyuk was serving for the match, but Jacquemot saved the match point with a winner, her ferocious forehand coming to her rescue, and she regrouped to force a tiebreak, then rallied again after falling behind through a mini-break.
There was more drama late in the decider, when Kostyuk rolled her ankle and needed a medical timeout to have it recorded.
“It was tough because you feel like it’s the end of the game,” Jacquemot said. “I tried to stay as calm as possible, don’t think about it too much. I’m very happy that I stayed focused in the match.”
The win was Jacquemot’s first over a Top 20 opponent, and was all the more impressive considering Kostyuk’s recent form, which included victories over Amanda Anisimova, Mirra Andreeva and Jessica Pegula before losing to Aryna Sabalenka in the final of the Brisbane International.
However, the fluidity and consistency the Ukrainian showed two weeks ago was missing against Jacquemot as Kostyuk fired 67 winners offset by her 68 unforced errors.
Jacquemot, the 2020 Roland Garros junior champion who cracked the Top 100 last year, lured Kostyuk into overpressing with excellent defense but also provided moments of well-timed aggression.
She will next face Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan, who defeated Beatriz Haddad Maia, and a raucous Brazilian crowd, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, earlier in the day, coming from a set and a break in 2 hours and 53 minutes.
“She used to be my coach’s player [me]said Jacquemot about her Putintseva. “I have a few days to prepare… I really need to recover.”
Scheduled on Court 6 next to the boisterous Courtside Bar, Putintseva’s dynamic with the crowd was spirited throughout, but the Russian-born Kazakh had the last laugh, approaching the net with a wobble of hip after sealing the victory, then taking a flowery bow to the crowd, with a theatrical twist thrown in for good measure.
On an important opening night, Romania’s Elena-Gabriela Ruse knocked out 26th seed Yastremska with a clinical 6-4 7-5 victory, marking an acrimonious departure for the Ukrainian, who staged a fairytale run to the semi-finals in Melbourne just two years ago and now suffered a first-round exit.
Ruse, currently ranked 85th, showed remarkable composure in the second set after letting a commanding 5-1 lead slip away.
Yastremska showed her trademark grit by winning four straight games to level the set at 5-5, but the Romanian recalibrated to break again and served out the match.
Ruse advances to Round 2, where she awaits the winner of the match between Australian veteran Ajla Tomljanovic and Ukrainian qualifier Yuliia Starodubtseva.
Seventh seed Jasmine Paolini comfortably defeated Aliaksandra Sasnovich with a loss of just three games to open her AO campaign on Sunday
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Opening round matches at Grand Slams, especially at the Australian Open, can often prove tricky, but that was no problem for Italy’s world number 7 Jasmine Paolini, who romped past Belarusian qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-1 6-2 in just over an hour.
The Italian swamped Sasnovich with aggressive groundstrokes, darting around the court and dictating play from the baseline, and the Belarusian fell under the brutal pace and struggled to stay in the rallies that barely gave her a moment to breathe.
“I didn’t expect that,” Paolini beamed after her match. “I was solid, I was focused. Before the match I was honestly a bit nervous, but then I stepped onto the court and felt good from the first ball. I stayed focused, because in tennis you never know.”
For Paolini, the emphatic victory started long before the first serve, with a deliberate change in mentality.
“I said to myself, ‘You haven’t smiled since you got up’. Smile a little, because if you don’t, you step on the court and you play badly. For me, it’s important to enjoy my tennis, to be on the court, so sometimes I force myself to smile more,” she explained, before concluding with “I’m going to enjoy my Sunday now!” on the television camera.
Paolini will face the winner of Monday’s match between Poland’s Magdalena Frech and Veronika Erjavec of Slovenia in round 2.
No. 12 seed Elina Svitolina kept her unbeaten streak alive with a straight sets victory against Cristina Bucsa on Day 1 at Melbourne Park
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Elena Svitolina’s 13th Australian Open campaign also got off to a smooth start on Sunday, with the Ukrainian recording a victory to remain undefeated until 2026.
After an early break on Cristina Bucsca, the twelfth seed dazzled the crowd with a cross-court backhand that extended beyond the Spaniard’s reach and quickly broke back.
From then on, she barely put a step wrong and completed a 6-4 6-1 win, extending her streak to 12 consecutive AO first-round wins.
Svitolina captured the WTA 250 title in Auckland last week and joked that she was undefeated because she “trained with my husband!”
“We really enjoy supporting each other,” she says. “There is someone at every tournament and someone who really understands you and supports you every step of the way.
The Ukrainian will face the winner of Monday’s meeting between Polish qualifier Linda Klimovicova and British No. 3 Fran Jones in the second round.
Also through to round 2 is Maria Sakkari, who is making a comeback after an indifferent season last year that saw her ranking plummet.
Currently ranked number 53 in the world, even Sakkari finds her progress unreal as she saw off France’s Leolia Jeanjean 6-4 6-2.
The Greek was one set up and 4-2 in the second when Jeanjean served to start the seventh game and Sakkari produced the shot of the day.
“By far the best,” Sakkari told reporters of her career shot position. “It’s not every day that you make a shot like that.”
At first, the curling trajectory of the serve looked like it was about to beat Sakkari, but stretched out she got enough power behind the hit to get over it.
The location of the attack was a few meters away from the baseline and Sakkari’s pass ended up having her jaw on the ground and a racket above her head.
“I didn’t know what to think because I never thought I could make a shot like that,” Sakkari said. “It was so natural, I just hit and I hoped it would go in. It was a one-off thing and I’m super excited because I’m sure it will be up there with one of the best shots.”
Sakkari recorded a straight-sets win and will advance to the second round, where she will face Croatia’s Donna Vekic or Russian No. 8 Mirra Andreeva, whom she has never played before.
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