MELBOURNE, Australia — Coco Gauff and Venus Williams could meet in the second round of the Australian Open, more than six years after they first faced off at a Grand Slam.
Gauff made her Grand Slam debut at the age of 15 when she defeated seven-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams in the first round of Wimbledon in 2019.
Now she is the third seed and a two-time Grand Slam champion. Williams, 45, has a wildcard berth into the Australian Open, her first in five years.
Williams will become the oldest woman to compete in the Australian Open main draw, surpassing the previous record held by Japan’s Kimiko Date, who was 44 when she lost in the first round at Melbourne Park in 2015.
The draw for this year’s first major took place at Melbourne Park on Thursday. The competition starts on Sunday.
Gauff will face No. 91 Kamila Rashimova. Williams, ranked 576th, made her Australian Open debut in 1998 and has reached the finals twice. She will face Olga Danilovich, ranked 68th.
They are in the same half as top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka, who won the Australian Open two years in a row but lost to Madison Keys in last year’s final.
Sabalenka will likely face 2021 U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu in the third round.
Keys, the defending champion, is in the same section as sixth-ranked Jessica Pegula and fourth-ranked Amanda Anisimova. The second-ranked Iga Świątek is in the lower quarter of the draw side and is likely to face Naomi Osaka in the fourth round.
Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic are drawn in the same half, with a semi-final between the defending champion and 23-time Grand Slam winner on the cards.
Top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz is on the opposite side of the draw from Sinner and Djokovic.
