Eighth-seed Alex de Minaur faces a tough start to his Australian Open tilt after drawing former world 22 Botic van de Zandschulp in the first round, with a potential match-up against top seed and defending champion Jannik Sinner in the quarter-finals.
The draw for the Australian Open was made on Thursday ahead of the start of tournament on Sunday. De Minaur is hoping to become the first Australian to win the men’s singles at his home grand slam since Mark Edmondson in 1976.
The Australian has beaten his first round opponent in their only previous meeting, a clash in the Davis Cup in 2022, but Van de Zandschulp will be no pushover. The 29-year-old has reached the third round at Melbourne Park before, was a US Open quarter-finalist in 2021 and upset Carlos Alcaraz in the second round at Flushing Meadows last year.
De Minaur is coming off a strong 2024 in which he reached the last eight in three slams before his season was ended prematurely by a hip injury. He is the highest Australian men’s singles seed since 2006, and said this week he feels like he is a “better version” of what he was last year.
“The biggest thing that’s back is my movement, that’s something that suffered a little bit of a hit after the injury last year,” de Minaur said. “I’m trying to get a little bit stronger, trying to get a couple of more free points on serve, a little bit of everything.”
Nick Kyrgios meets British 23-year-old Jacob Fearnley – ranked 86 in the world and yet to win an ATP title – in the first round as part of his comeback from a wrist injury, and practised at Melbourne Park on Thursday with Indian player Sumit Nagal despite a low-grade abdominal strain. The Australian looked untroubled hitting his forehand and backhand, but resisted testing his serve until the end of the session, when he briefly clutched at his stomach in apparent pain.
Former Australian player John Millman said the draw had been “relatively kind” to Kyrgios, even though a third round match-up looms against second seed Alexander Zverev. “If he can get through and have the opportunity to play Alexander Zverev it would be a bit of a serving-a-thon,” Millman said.
Alexei Popyrin, the 25th seed, meets 69th-ranked Frenchman Corentin Moutet, and 27th seed Jordan Thompson received a favourable draw and will play a qualifier.
The women’s draw includes challenging debuts for local teenage hopes Emerson Jones and Maya Joint. The 16-year-old Jones will play sixth-seed Elena Rybakina, and 18-year-old Joint meets seventh-seed Jessica Pegula.
The two have shown promising form in lead-up tournaments and hopes are high that they can impress in their debuts at Melbourne Park this year.
Queenslander Jones – who was the top junior in the world last year – defeated world No 37 Wang Xin in Adelaide before pushing experienced Russian Daria Kasatkina in their match on Wednesday.
Joint – born in the USA to an Australian father – made her grand slam debut at last year’s US Open, and shocked experienced German Laura Siegemund in a first round upset. She has already beaten 38th-ranked Magda Linette and former world No 4 Sofia Kenin in Hobart this week.
Women’s singles first round: (excludes qualifiers to be confirmed)
Olivia Gadecki v Veronika Kudermetova
Talia Gibson (wc) v Zeynep Sonmez
Maya Joint (wc) v Jessica Pegula (7)
Emerson Jones (wc) v Elena Rybakina
Daria Saville (wc) v Anna Blinkova
Ajla Tomljanovic (wc) v Ashlyn Krueger
Men’s singles first round:
Alex de Minaur (8) v Botic van de Zandschulp
James Duckworth v Dominic Stricker
Omar Jasika (wc) v Hugo Gaston
Thanasi Kokkinakis v Roman Safiullin
Rinky Hijikata v qualifier
Li Tu (wc) v Jiri Lehecka (24)
Nick Kyrgios v Jacob Fearnley
James McCabe (WC) v qualifier
Christopher O’Connell v Tommy Paul (12)
Alexei Popyrin (25) v Corentin Moutet
Tristan Schoolkate (WC) v Taro Daniel
Jordan Thompson (27) v qualifier
Aleksandar Vukic v Damir Dzumhur
Adam Walton v Quentin Halys
