Coco vs. Venus, Part II, in 1st round
MELBOURNE, Australia — Get ready for Coco Gauff vs. Venus Williams, Part II.
The headlinegrabbing tennis players — Gauff, 15, is the youngest woman in the Australian Open; Venus, 39, is the oldest — will meet again in the first round of a Grand Slam tournament after Thursday’s draw at Melbourne Park put them in a tough quarter that also includes Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka.
Gauff had a breakout run at Wimbledon last year, when she became the youngest qualifier in tournament history, beat Venus Williams to start her main draw run and became the youngest player to reach the round of 16 there since Martina Hingis in 1996.
The winner of Coco vs. Venus — no last names required — could meet defending champion Osaka in the third round. The winner there potentially faces Venus’ younger sister, 23time major winner Serena, in the quarterfinals.
Serena Williams is coming off a victory in the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, her first title since she won the 2017 Australian Open. She is seeded eighth in Melbourne and will meet Anastasia Potapova in the first round. Osaka opens against Marie Bouzkova.
Defending men’s champion Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer were drawn into the same half of the field at Melbourne Park, where play begins Monday, so they could meet in the semifinals.
The secondranked Djokovic has won a record seven Australian Open trophies and is coming off his unbeaten run at the inaugural ATP Cup, where he guided Serbia to the title. Federer hasn’t added to his 20 Grand Slam titles since winning the Australian Open in 2018, his sixth title at Melbourne Park.
Topranked Rafael Nadal could face a fourthround match against Nick Kyrgios — their blockbuster at Wimbledon last year was memorable — and a projected quarterfinal against Dominic Thiem, the man he has beaten in the past two French Open finals.
The socalled Big Three of men’s tennis joined other stars, including Serena Williams, Osaka and Gauff, at the Rally for Relief on Wednesday night, an exhibition event that raised millions of dollars for relief efforts for the wildfires that have devastated parts of Australia, leaving at least 27 people and millions of animals dead. Smoke from the bush fires had the air quality in Melbourne ranked among the worst in the world earlier in the week.
Osaka won backtoback majors, claiming her first Grand Slam title at the 2018 U.S. Open before winning in Australia last year. Her best run since then was to the fourth round at the U.S. Open, where she thinks she got some benefit from the experience. “I had a try at being defending champion at the U.S. Open. I’m more prepared this time,” she said.
Topranked Ash Barty is in the same half of the field and is a potential semifinal opponent for Osaka.
Barty will open against Lesia Tsurenko. That quarter includes 10thseeded Madison Keys, the U.S. Open runnerup in 2017, and seventhseeded Petra Kvitova, a twotime Wimbledon champion and the runnerup in Australia last year in her first major final since a violent home invasion in late 2016 left her with careerthreatening hand injuries.
Among other firstround matches, fivetime major champion Maria Sharapova, playing as a wild card because of an injuryinterrupted 2019, will meet 19thseeded Donna Vekic, and twotime major champion Simona Halep, the runnerup in 2018, will take on Jennifer Brady, who beat Barty at the Brisbane International last week.
The projected men’s quarterfinals are Nadal vs. Thiem, U.S. Open finalist Daniil Medvedev against Alexander Zverev, Djokovic against Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Federer against Matteo Berrettni.