Monday will be a star-studded day in Melbourne, with an astounding 74 Major singles titles represented. Serena Williams, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Naomi Osaka, Ash Barty, and the retiring Caroline Wozniacki will all be in action. But the most talked-about match on Day 1 sees the WTA’s youngest rising star face the WTA’s most senior stateswoman.
Coco Gauff vs. Venus Williams
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In a rematch from the first round of Wimbledon six months ago, it’s 39-year-old Venus against 15-year-old Coco Gauff. On that day at The Championships, Gauff pulled off the stunning upset, putting the tennis world on notice and beginning a summer of Cocomania. But the dynamic in this match will be much different, as the young teenager will be the favorite. Since Wimbledon, Gauff has accumulated 13 main draw match wins, including the first title of her career this past October in Linz. Venus is just 5-8 since Wimbledon, and hasn’t played a match in over three months. Coco played two matches in Auckland to start 2020, but looked a bit shaky in her three-set defeat at the hands of Laura Siegemund. I expect Gauff to come out a bit nervous on Monday, with the pressure being firmly on her shoulders in this rematch. And Venus will be eager to avenge the Wimbledon loss, and motivated to move up the rankings as she looks to qualify for a spot on an extremely competitive American women’s Olympic team this summer. Despite her recent lack of match play, I give Venus the slight edge to prevail, and show that her career is not quite done yet.
Serena Williams (8) vs. Anastasia Potapova
Like her older sister, Serena also faces a young new face that is less than half her age. And in this same round of the last Major, it was the 18-year-old Potapova that pushed Coco Gauff to a third set. While she went down in defeat on that day, many pundits came away fromn that match impressed with her game, and with high expectations for her future. However, standing across the net from the GOAT is a daunting task for an as-of-yet unproven teenager. And it’s been four months since Potapova won a main draw WTA match, while Serena is 5-0 to start the year. This should be a comfortable first round victory for the seven-time Australian Open singles champion.
Novak Djokovic (2) vs. Jan-Lennard Struff
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Speaking of seven-time champions in Melbourne, Djokovic is again the favorite to be the last man standing 13 days from now. But this is one of the toughest first round opponents Novak could have drawn. Struff just missed out on being seeded at this event, coming off the best season of his career. The big-swinging German can outhit almost anyone on tour when he’s on. However, doing that for three full sets against the best defender in the game should prove too much for the 29-year-old. And not only has Djokovic won all five previous sets they’ve played, but Struff is a meek 1-5 in Melbourne. After a full week of rest following his inaugural ATP Cup triumph, a recuperated Djokovic should easily pass this opening round test.
Ash Barty (1) vs. Lesia Tsurenko
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It was a year ago at this tournament when Ash Barty elevated her career to the next level, reaching the quarterfinals of a Slam for the first time. 52 weeks on, she arrives in Melbourne as a definitive world No.1, thanks to big title wins at the Miami Open, Roland Garros and the WTA Finals. And just this past weekend, she was the champion in Adelaide. However, she’s 0-1 against her first round opponent. Tsurenko, a 30-year-old Ukranian, defeated Barty two years ago in Brisbane, and was a quarterfinalist at the 2018 US Open. But Lesia is coming off a six-month layoff due to an elbow injury, and Barty is a much improved player two years later, so this should be a rather straightforward win for the Australian.
Roger Federer (3) vs. Steve Johnson
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With Nadal and Djokovic closer to his tally of 20 Majors than ever before, Federer would love to end his two-year Slam drought during this fortnight. While he was the champion at this event in two of the last three years, he feels like a considerable underdog now that Djokovic is back at the peak of his abilities. This will be Roger’s first competitive match in two months, when he lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semifinals of the ATP Finals. Today he faces a former top 25 player who now finds himself fighting to stay inside the top 100. Johnson went just 14-21 last year, and spent much of the second half of the season on the challenger circuit. Federer has easily claimed both their previous encounters without dropping a set. With little in Johnson’s game that can bother Roger, this should become Federer’s 21st consecutive victory in the first round of the Australian Open.
Other notable matches on Day 1:
- Defending champion Naomi Osaka (3) vs. Marie Bouzkova, a 21-year-old from the Czech Republic who was a semifinalist last August at the Rogers Cup.
- ATP Finals champion Stefanos Tsitsipas (7) vs. Salvatore Caruso, a 27-year-old Italian who has never won a match at a hard court Major. Tsitispas was a semifinalist here a year ago, but is 0-3 in his last three matches at Slams.
- In her last tournament before retirement, 2018 champion Caroline Wozniacki vs. Kristie Ahn, who reached the round of 16 at last year’s US Open.
- Roberto Bautista Agut (9), who was a quarterfinalist here last year, vs. fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez. They’ve split four previous meetings, with Lopez prevailing both times they met on a hard court.
- Petra Kvitova (7), who reached the final here 12 months ago, vs. fellow Czech Katerina Siniakova. Petra leads their head-to-head 2-0, though they played a tight three-setter last February in Dubai.
Order of play
Rod Laver Arena
N. Osaka (3) versus M. Bouzkova
A. Potapova versus S. Williams (8)
S. Johnson versus R. Federer (3)
A. Barty (1) versus L. Tsurenko
J. Struff versus N. Djokovic (2)
Margaret Court Arena
D. Shapovalov (13) versus M. Fucsovics
K. Siniakova versus P. Kvitova (7)
V. Williams versus C. Gauff
S. Tsitsipas (6) versus S. Caruso
S. Stephens (24) versus S. Zhang
Melbourne Arena
M. Berrettini (8) versus A. Harris (WC)
K. Ahn versus C. Wozniacki
J. Londero versus G. Dimitrov (18)
S. Stosur versus C. McNally (Q)
1573 Arena
S. Querrey versus B. Coric (25)
R. Opelka versus F. Fognini (12)
M. Keys (10) versus D. Kasatkina
J. Konta (12) versus O. Jabeur
Court 3
M. Trevisan (Q) versus S. Kenin (14)
A. Li (Q) versus L. Cabrera (WC)
J. Thompson versus A. Bublik
J. Millman versus U. Humbert
Court 5
J. Goerges versus V. Kuzmova
K. Kanepi versus B. Krejcikova (Q)
M. Cilic versus C. Moutet
P. Kohlschreiber versus M. Giron
Court 7
C. McHale versus P. Martic (13)
J. Sinner versus M. Purcell (Q)
M. Gasparyan versus M. Sakkari (22)
D. Schwartzman (14) versus L. Harris
Court 8
G. Pella (22) versus J. Smith (WC)
A. Riske (18) versus Y. Wang
M. Polmans (WC) versus M. Kukushkin
K. Juvan (Q) versus D. Yastremska (23)
Court 10
M. Safwat (Q) versus G. Barrere
M. Linette versus A. Rus
A. Davidovich Fokina versus N. Gombos (Q)
Court 11
S. Zheng versus A. Kalinskaya (Q)
C. Garin versus S. Travaglia
L. Mayer versus T. Paul
Court 12
R. Carballes Baena versus R. Berankis
T. Zidansek versus N. Han (WC)
M. Brengle versus C. Garcia
T. Ito (WC) versus P. Gunneswaran (LL)
Court 13
V. Golubic versus L. Zhu
F. Lopez versus R. Bautista Agut (9)
P. Andujar versus M. Mmoh (WC)
B. Pera versus E. Rybakina (29)
Court 14
D. Evans (30) versus M. McDonald
T. Sandgren versus M. Trungelliti (Q)
F. Ferro versus A. Van Uytvanck
A. Sasnovich versus G. Minnen (Q)
Court 15
Y. Nishioka versus L. Djere
K. Edmund versus D. Lajovic (24)
Q. Wang (27) versus P. Parmentier (WC)
N. Hibino (Q) versus S. Peng
Court 19
E. Alexandrova (25) versus J. Teichmann
R. Albot versus M. Raonic (32)
H. Hurkacz (31) versus D. Novak (Q)
P. Hercog versus R. Peterson
Court 22
P. Badosa versus J. Larsson (Q)
S. Cirstea versus B. Strycova (32)
Q. Halys (Q) versus F. Krajinovic
B. Paire (21) versus C. Stebe
