After top-ranked Aussie Alex de Minaur led a local charge into the second round, another six locals are hoping to join the party on Tuesday’s final day of first round action. Follow live!
But the real chaos is coming off the court where tram cables snapped on the route between the Melbourne CBD and Melbourne Park, blocking Batman Avenue and stopping all public transport between the tennis precinct and the city.
Yarra Trams said the “major incident” had forced Route 70 trams (which typically stop at Rod Laver Arena in between the train tracks and Grand Slam Oval) to divert via Route 75 along Bridge Road between Stop 6 Russell Street and Stop 29 Riversdale Road.
The Route 70a Australian Open Shuttle was being diverted via Wellington Street to Stop 11 MCG/Jolimont Station. Attendees are better off walking from the CBD.
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On the court, De Minaur advanced past former world No.3 Milos Raonic in abbreviated fashion on Monday night, when the big-serving Canadian withdrew hurt, trailing 2-0 in the third when it was still a set-all.
The Sydneysider was joined in victory by doubles world No.1 Storm Hunter, the powerful Alexei Popyrin and Jordan Thompson – who declared the Australian Open was “woke” on route to a five-set triumph. Just one Aussie, Christopher O’Connell, won on day one of the tournament.
While not officially Australia’s top-ranked woman due to an injury-impacted 2023 campaign, Ajla Tomljanovic heads into her first round match with Croatia’s Petra Martic with reasonable expectations, after making several slam quarter-final runs across 2021 and 2022.
She caps off the night session on the more populist John Cain Arena, after crowd favourite Thanasi Kokkinakis (vs Austria’s Sebastian Ofner, not before 4pm).
Wildcard Olivia Gadecki, who made a stunning main draw debut last year with a victory, fell to former US Open champion Sloane Stephens in the court opener.
Raonic retires in upsetting ending | 01:04
Elsewhere top-50 bolter Max Purcell is a strong chance to advance against Hungarian qualifier Mate Valkusz, while Kim Birrell (vs streaky No.11 Jelena Ostapenko) has a tougher task.
Wildcard James McCabe fell in four sets to American Alex Michelsen, 7-6(5) 3-6 6-1 6-2, but was left fuming after a clear umpire blunder cost him the opening game of the third set.
With the match at a tipping point, McCabe attempted to save a Michelsen drop shot and got there – but it was called a double bounce, and the game ended immediately.
The Aussie was left stunned, ranting that “it doesn’t make sense”, and the decision was shown to be a clear mistake by replays.
“He got that easily. Yep, picked that up clean as a whistle,” the TV commentator said.
“Very puzzled about it. But also the umpire didn’t call ‘not up’ – she just called the game. That’s surprising.”
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SUPERVISOR’S CHEEKY GAG AFTER BIZARRE LOGO DRAMA
Fashion at the Australian Open is always a hot talking point – including the sky-high prices of official Ralph Lauren merchandise. But Martin Fucsovics had a bizarre moment ahead of his match with Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov when he fell afoul of the tournament’s strict clothing rules.
Fucsovics’s hat bore sponsor logos on both the front and back, while one of his shirt sleeves also had two different logos – both of these breaching the rules.
Fucsovics was stunned at being asked to replace his hat – with umpire Jaume Campistol Mas telling him: “I can get you a tournament one.”
A tournament supervisor was called for a clothing check, and luckily, common sense prevailed.
Gerry Armstrong, a veteran official on the tour – who as an umpire famously defaulted John McEnroe in the 1990 Australian Open for multiple code violations – allowed Fucsovics to begin the match rather than wait for a hat to be delivered.
And in a classic quip, the ATP’s Tour Supervisor for over three decades even offered Fucsovics the use of his own Greg Norman-esque cowboy hat, joking: “You can use mine.”
The no-nonsense Armstrong also allowed Fucsovics to wear the offending shirt for the match so long as they sorted out the problem by the next match.
Fucsovics wore his own hat for the first couple of games before removing it, and later in the match wore the provided white Aus Open cap.
WORLD NO.1’s HUGE BARTY PRAISE AFTER GUTSY WIN
It loomed as a cruel draw for women’s world No.1 Iga Swiatek and her clash with 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin lived up to the billing.
Kenin threatened multiple times to take the opening set of their clash on Rod Laver Arena, twice breaking the Pole’s serve and having a chance to serve for the opening set at 5-4, before Swiatek recovered to force a tiebreak which she claimed 7-6(2).
Swiatek broke early in the second set, staved off a couple of break points at 3-2, and broke again for a 5-2 lead after a Kenin double fault. She served it out 6-2, sealing a repeat of her win over the same opponent in the 2020 French Open final.
She finished with 30 winners to 21 unforced errors, compared to Kenin’s 18 winners to 34 unforced errors.
Swiatek has regularly praised Aussie Ash Barty for inspiring her to become a better player and eventually world number one.
Asked if she saw Barty at this tournament, she replied: “Not yet, not yet. I’m hoping to – and I’m hoping to see the baby!”
Then she delivered a touching speech about her former rival, whose retirement allowed Swiatek to ascend to world number one.
“For sure you know, Ash changed a lot, changed kind of my mindset going into 2022. I think that was a breakthrough for me.
“I was a top ten player but I was feeling that she has such great tennis that even though I know what she’s going to play, it’s still tough to play against her and to win points.”
She adds she was motivated to add variety to her game in order to be able to challenge Barty, saying: “She really motivated me. It’s not obivously the only reason, but it’s one of the reasons I later became world number one… For sure I’m really grateful for her.”
“I don’t know if I would be world number one if she was still playing,” she joked. “She was a huge inspiration and still is.”
It echoes Swiatek’s classy message for Barty at the Aus Open last year, when she said: “Last year when I lost to her in Adelaide, I was like ‘I have to do everything to learn how to get back this slice and cope with the change of rhythm’.”
“For the next few months, I was really, really motivated. I‘m really grateful for that.
“I know she didn’t do anything to make it happen. Her tennis is amazing and she really pushed us to our limits and she still kind of won easily.”
HEARTBREAKING AUSSIE APOLOGY DESPITE GUTSY EFFORT
Popular Aussie Daria Saville is still burning after a tough first-round defeat on Monday, sharing an emotional social media post after a hot-and-cold performance in near a three-hour 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 5-7 loss.
The Australian – handed a wildcard for the tournament – struggled with her ball toss and serve, copping 14 double faults as she fell to Polish world No. 69 Magdalena Frech on Monday despite winning the first set.
After three-straight double faults handed Frech a key break early in the second set, Saville slammed a racquet to the ground.
And her frustration at the defeat was clear in her emotional Instagram post today, writing: “Yesterday hurt. This morning it still hurts.
“Struggling to come up with anything positive to say about my performance except for fighting real hard in the end.
“Thanks to everyone who came and supported me and I’m really sorry
“But hey … at least I’m healthy and woke up feeling half decent.”
Saville suffered an ACL injury in late 2022 and returned midway through last year, securing some impressive results to climb through the rankings from outside the top 300 back to world number 152 at present – still some distance off her career best of No.20 in 2017.
The post drew a wave of support from the likes of Rennae Stubbs, Casey Dellacqua and Priscilla Hon.
AUSSIE’S HORROR BEATDOWN AFTER HOT START TO UPSET BID
21-year-old Olivia Gadecki was handed a brutal task in her Australian Open first round, facing 2017 US Open winner Sloane Stephens on John Cain Arena.
Gadecki enjoyed a strong 2023, claiming a first-ever Grand Slam singles win when she reached the second round at the Australian Open and surging up the rankings (now No.120).
And her hopes of a huge upset over the former world number three began in perfect fashion, winning the first eight points of the match to break to love and race to a 2-0 lead.
But world number 44 Stephens absolutely blew away the Aussie wildcard from that point on, claiming the first set 6-3 in 25 minutes.
There were promising signs for Gadecki early in the second set, after she battled back to save two break points and hold serve with an ace.
But it was the only game she would win in the set as a near-flawless Stephens ran out 6-3 6-1 winner in under an hour.
A double fault ended the tough learning experience as Stephens broke for the fifth time in the match and sealed a 56-minute victory, her first at the Aus Open since 2019.
“This is the wokest tournament ever!” | 00:37
‘WE DON’T STORM INTO AN OFFICE’: AUSSIE STAR’S DEFENCE OF WILD CROWD RANT
Jordan Thompson says his declaration the Australian Open is “the wokest tournament ever” was out of frustration over rules that see fans “making a nuisance”.
The Aussie’s five-set win over compatriot Aleksandar Vukic saw him raging over new fan-friendly rules which mean attendees can move into their seats between games, not just during longer breaks like a change of ends.
While he did not attempt to explain what he meant by calling the tournament “woke” – which typically refers to awareness of social inequality – Thompson said he “had no idea” about the changes.
“Heat of the battle. Probably shouldn’t have said it,” Thompson said of the “woke” comment.
“Yeah, there is a few things that concerned me, but we won’t go into that.”
He continued: “How many years which have we been playing tennis, and then all of a sudden they spring on us that they can come in between not even a sitdown. So it just disrupts everyone’s rhythm.
“I mean, if someone is walking at the back and you are throwing the ball toss up, it’s impossible to see it because you have a moving person behind it.
“Yeah, it’s, in my opinion, it’s not good. I’m choosing my words carefully.
“I just don’t understand why we would do that. We are out there working, that’s our job, we’re tennis players. We don’t come in and storm into an office while someone is in a meeting.
“Like someone is just barging through the door, making a nuisance. Even though it doesn’t seem that way, but it is. It’s very off-putting. That’s one thing you can compare it to.”
Australian Open boss Craig Tiley fired back on Tuesday morning, defending the decision.
“What we’ve said is we want fans to sit in their seats when play is on – that’s the expectation coming into the stadium and that’s always been the case. And that hasn’t changed this year either,” Tiley told Channel 9.
“What we have done is try to get their fans into their seats quicker – the worst situation you can have as a fan is waiting outside the stadium for three games, for five games, you could be waiting for up to 20-30 minutes before you get in.
“We don’t want that for the fans either.
“There’s been no rule change other than trying to get the fans into the stadium as quickly as possible.
“The fans know, that come and watch tennis, when you’re in your seat the idea is not to disrupt play.”
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DAY 3 ORDER OF PLAY (Show courts & Aussies in action)
Day session from 12pm AEDT, night session from 7pm AEDT, unless listed
ROD LAVER ARENA
Day session
No.1 Iga Swiatek (POL) def Sofia Kenin (USA) 7-6(2) 6-2
No.8 Holger Rune (DEN) vs Yoshihito Nishioka (JPN)
Night session
No.3 Elena Rybakina (KAZ) vs Karolina Pliskova (CZE)
Richard Gasquet (FRA) vs No.2 Carlos Alcaraz (ESP)
MARGARET COURT ARENA
Day session
No.11 Casper Ruud (NOR) def Albert Ramos-Vinolas (ESP) 6-1 6-3 6-1
Camila Giorgi (ITA) vs No.18 Victoria Azarenka (BLR)
Night session
No.6 Alexander Zverev (GER) vs Dominik Koepfer (GER)
Rebecca Marino (CAN) vs No.5 Jessiac Pegula (USA)
JOHN CAIN ARENA (from 11am)
Sloane Stephens (USA) def Olivia Gadecki (AUS) 6-3 6-1
No.13 Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) vs Marton Fucsovics (HUN)
Not before 4pm: Sebastian Ofner (AUT) vs Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS)
Not before 7pm: Petra Martic (CRO) vs Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS)
AUSSIES IN ACTION
Kia Arena, Match 2: Max Purcell (AUS) vs Mate Valkusz (HUN)
Court 3, 11am: Alex Michelsen (USA) def. James McCabe (AUS) 7-6(5) 3-6 6-1 6-2
Court 3, Match 3: No.11 Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) vs Kimberly Birrell (AUS)