Coco and Venus cross paths again
Fans who first fell in love with Coco Gauff when she played Venus Williams in a captivating first-round match at Wimbledon last year will have the chance next week for a repeat viewing.
Gauff, the 15-year-old who became a sensation last summer with a 6-4 6-4 win over Williams and a run to Wimbledon’s fourth round, will begin her Australian Open with another match against the seven-time grand slam champion.
Gauff and Williams’ match is sure to highlight the Australian Open’s first round, the schedule for which has not yet been released. Main draw play will begin on Monday morning.
Williams, 39, pulled out of this month’s lead-up tournaments to the year’s first major tournament with a hip injury.
The two Americans aren’t the only stars in their quarter of the draw. Defending champion and No 3 seed Naomi Osaka heads a jam-packed group that includes No 8 seed Serena Williams, who is seeking a record-tying 24th grand slam singles title after winning the ASB Classic in Auckland last week. Serena Williams begins her tournament against 90thranked Anastasia Potapova. There are two other seeded Americans further down the quarter in No 24 Sloane Stephens and No 14 Sofia Kenin.
Either Gauff or Venus Williams, should she advance to the third round, could meet Osaka there.
Caroline Wozniacki, a past champion in Melbourne and former world No 1, also sits in this section of the draw. The Dane, who plans to retire after the Australian Open, will play American Kristi Ahn in the first round.
Wozniacki, 29, revealed last year that she has rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease that can cause join pain and issues of mobility.
The other top seeds in the women’s tournament are No 1 Ashleigh Barty, last year’s French Open champion, who will open her home grand slam against 120thranked Lesia Tsurenko.
Second seed Karolina Pliskova, who won last week’s lead-up tournament in Brisbane, faces a juicy opening matchup against 39th-ranked Kristi Mladenovic, against whom she has a 2-2 record. Simona Halep, the No 4 seed and last year’s Wimbledon champion, faces a first-round match against American Jennifer Brady.
In the men’s tournament, No 1 seed Rafael Nadal heads perhaps the most exciting quarter of a more evenly balanced draw overall.
The Spaniard will face 72nd-ranked Hugo Dellien of Bolivia in the first round as he seeks his 20th grand slam title, a victory that would tie him with Roger Federer for the all-time men’s singles record.
Nadal could face No 23 seed Nick Kyrgios in what would be a flashy fourth round; the volatile Aussie has a 2-1 record against Nadal on hard courts. Tenth seed Gael Monfils, No 16 seed Karen Khachanov and No 20 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime all populate Nadal’s tough quarter.
In the quarterfinals, Nadal could face No 5 seed Dominic Thiem, the Austrian whom he has defeated in the French Open final each of the last two years.
The other top seeds are defending champion and No 2 seed Novak Djokovic, who is seeking a record-extending eighth Australian Open title; No 3 seed Roger Federer, who could win his 21st grand slam title; and No 4 seed Daniil Medvedev, the lanky Russian who burst onto the scene with an incredible summer run last year and took Nadal to a dramatic five sets in the final of the US Open.
Medvedev opens against Maryland native Frances Tiafoe, who had a grand slam career-best run to the quarterfinals in Melbourne last year.
– The Washington Post