The first grand slam of the year is just about here. On Thursday night in Melbourne the draw was conducted. In this article you can read about who the Australian players are facing in round one.
Our best hope to end a 40 year long title drought is Ash Barty the current world no. 1. On the men’s side it is Nick Kyrgios with perhaps the only realistic chance of lifting the men’s trophy out of the 10 men taking part.
Alex de Minaur was set to play but a stomach injury saw him withdraw from the tournament. Below are the first round matches for the Australians. Some analysis is further below.
WOMEN
(1) Ashleigh Barty v Lesia Tsurenko (UKR)
Ajla Tomljanovic v 31-Anastasija Sevastova (LAT)
Samantha Stosur v (Q) Catherine McNally (USA)
(WC) Priscilla Hon v Kateryna Kozlova (UKR)
(WC) Astra Sharma v 28-Anett Kontaveit (EST)
(WC) Lizette Cabrera v (Q)Ann Li (USA)
(WC) Arina Rodionova v Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR)
MEN
(23) Nick Kyrgios v Lorenzo Sonego (ITA)
John Millman v Ugo Humbert (FRA)
Jordan Thompson v Alexander Bublik (KAZ)
Alexei Popyrin v 28-Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA)
James Duckworth v Aljaz Bedene (SLO)
(WC) Chris O’Connell v 17-Andrey Rublev (RUS)
(WC) Marc Polmans v Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ)
(WC) Alex Bolt v Albert Vinolas Ramos (ESP)
(WC) Andrew Harris v 8-Matteo Berrettini (ITA)
(WC) John-Patrick Smith v 22-Guido Pella (ARG)
(Q) Max Purcell v Jannik Sinner (ITA)
(1) Ashleigh Barty v Lesia Tsurenko (UKR)
Barty opens her campaign against former world no. 23 Lesia Tsurenko from Ukraine. Tsurenko was at her career high in February of last year after a good showing at the 2018 US Open and after having reached the final at the 2019 Brisbane Interational.
After that it was a tough year for the Ukrainian and she missed much of second half of the 2019 season. A elbow injury forced her to withdraw from the 2019 US Open so she could not defend her quarterfinals ranking points.
Tsurenko is a quality player and if she has fully recovered from her injury she could present Barty with a tough match is Barty is not at the top of her game. You would expect the world no. 1 to advance but it won’t be a monumental upset to see Tsurenko get through. Although I am sure most people would be shocked.
Ajla Tomljanovic v 31-Anastasija Sevastova (LAT)
World no. 52 Tomljanovic has the game to defeat Sevastova. She lost to Simona Halep in Adelaide and Karolina Pliskova in Brisbane so has some form going into the Australian Open.
Sevastova has had two first round losses to start the season and she struggled for wins after a round of 32 loss at the US Open. The Latvian is 2-0 in the head 2 head matchup winning twice on grass. From what the Australian has shown in the opening two weeks of 2020 I am tipping her to advance.
Priscilla Hon v Kateryna Kozlova (UKR)
Hon and Kozlova are meeting for the first time. Kozlova is ranked at no. 91 and Hon at no. 139. Hon has plenty of raw talent but lacks consistency. She pushed Julia Gorges to a tie-breaker in Adelaide before the German ran away with the second set. With the support of a home crowd I am tipping Hon.
Astra Sharma v 28-Anett Kontaveit (EST)
Sharma’s breakout performance came in April 2019 when she reached the final at the Bogota tournament losing to Amanda Anisomova. That result pushed her close to the top-100 rankings and she would eventually reach a career-high at no. 85 in June.
The second half of the year was not that good for Sharma and her ranking drifted back outside the top-100 and she is now ranked at no. 110.
This is the first meeting between the Australian and Estonian. Kontaveit should have the form to beat Sharma.
Arina Rodionova v Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR)
In the third of the Australia vs Ukraine matchups in the women’s draw it is the world no. 201 Rodionova against world no. 534 Bondarenko. The Ukainian is making a comeback after giving birth to her second child in 2019.
Rodionova reached the main draw thanks to a win at the Australian wildcard tournament in December. The Australian has some good recent form and is my tip to advance.
Sam Stosur and Lizette Cabrera are waiting on the outcome of the qualifying tournament before they learn who they will face in the opening round.
Men’s preview
(23) Nick Kyrgios v Lorenzo Sonego (ITA)
Kyrgios after having come through the ATP Cup should have the matches needed to come out firing against Sonego. The problem is that now he is back to playing away from the team environment that he loves so much.
Will good Nick or bad Nick take to the court? You never know what to expect. Kyrgios is ranked at no. 26 and Sonego is no. 52. They have met once before with Kyrgios winning 7-5, 6-4 in a round of 64 match at the ATP Masters in Cincinnati. In the next match he had the meltdown against Karen Khachenov.
If the Kyrgios serve is firing I tip him to win, a bit of an off game and Sonego is good enough to cause an upset.
John Millman v Ugo Humbert (FRA)
Millman is ranked no. 47 and Humbert is at no. 57 although after winning the Auckland ATP 250 title the Frenchman will jump to no. 43 on Monday.
Millman had two matches at the ATP Cup including a good win over Adelaide semifinalist Felix Auger-Alisssime and he won two matches in Auckland including a win against Karen Khachanov.
Very often it is hard to back up a title win with a good showing the week after. That could give the edge to Millman but on the other hand Humbert could ride a wave of confidence and defeat the Australian.
Jordan Thompson v Alexander Bublik (KAZ)
Bublik the Russian born Kazakh player reached the final at the ATP 250 event in Chengdu, China in September. He defeated Thompson 6-4, 7-5 in the round on 16, this being their only meeting.
Thompson also reached an ATP 250 final in s-Sertogenbosch losing to Adrian Mannarino. This match is a hard one to pick a winner for.
Alexei Popyrin v 28-Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA)
Popyrin managed some good wins at last years Australian Open although he was helped out by an out of sorts Dominic Thiem. This year he faces a former finalist in Tsonga. Popyrin will have to be at the top of his game to get past the popular Frenchman.
James Duckworth v Aljaz Bedene (SLO)
Duckworth showed some form in Adelaide and has a good chance to advance over Bedene. The Australian leads the head-to-head 2-1 although the last time they played each other was back in 2013.
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