Sinner’s bid for third consecutive Australian Open title begins with anticlimactic victory
MELBOURNE, Australia — Two sets and more than an hour of tennis wasn’t what Jannik Sinner wanted when he began his bid for a third straight Australian Open title on Rod Laver Arena.
Sinner was leading 6-2, 6-1 in his first official match since defeating Carlos Alcaraz at the ATP Finals in November when No. 93 Hugo Gaston suddenly withdrew due to injury on Tuesday night.
“I noticed he wasn’t serving very fast,” Sinner said, but that’s not how you want to win a match.
After signaling that he had to quit, Gaston walked to a chair on the sidelines, lowered his head and covered his mouth with his hands. Sinner walked over to comfort him, put his hand on the Frenchman’s shoulder, and wished him a speedy recovery.
For Sinner, it was an anticlimactic return to the home court at Melbourne Park 12 months after beating Alexander Zverev in the final to claim back-to-back Australian titles.
He faced Alcaraz in the finals of three other majors, winning at Wimbledon and finishing runner-up at the French Open and U.S. Open, as the so-called “Sinkaraz” rivals extended their dominance of the Grand Slam tournament into a second full year.
However, Sinner was not content with splitting the title with Alcaraz. He used the downtime to focus on fine-tuning his serve and tweaking other parts of his game in search of incremental improvements.
“I put in many, many long days in the offseason trying to become a better tennis player,” said Sinner, who is ranked No. 2. “But at the end of the day, the most important part is to go out there and enjoy it, isn’t it? It’s very special to start the season in a night match at a Grand Slam, packed with people just trying to do their best.”
Sinner is aiming to become the fourth player to win three consecutive men’s titles at the Australian Open.
Osaka’s fashion statement
Wearing a wide-brimmed hat, a veil and a white parasol, Osaka made a grand entrance as she walked into Rod Laver Arena for her final game.
The four-time Grand Slam winner went on to beat Antonia Ruzic 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 and later explained the inspiration for her design.
“It’s modeled after jellyfish,” Osaka said. “I’m grateful that I get to do what I love.”
Madison Keys got off to a rocky start in her title defense, struggling early with the offbeat style of Oleksandra Oliynykova before advancing 7-6 (6), 6-1.
Ninth-seeded Keys, playing her 50th Grand Slam match, found her rhythm after trailing 4-0.
“Obviously, I was very nervous at first,” Case said. “As nervous as I was…I was really happy to be back and that I got through that game.”
Olynikova’s unorthodox groundstrokes and strong defense kept Keys off-balance in the first set.
“I think that makes it a little bit tricky,” Case said. “I felt like I really found my game at the end of the tiebreaker and then was able to carry that into the second set.”
Olynikova attracted widespread attention for her unique body art and ink, as well as for wearing a T-shirt with a Ukrainian message on it during her post-match press conference.
Fifth-ranked Elena Rybakina and 10th-ranked Belinda Bencic advanced in straight sets, but two women’s seeds were eliminated in straight sets early on the third day, with Janice Janis beating 2021 US Open finalist Leila Fernandez and Theresa Valentova defeating Australia’s Maya United.
Sloane Stephens, the 2017 U.S. Open champion who had to qualify for the season-opening Grand Slam, lost to Karolina Pliskova 7-6 (7), 6-2.
In a match between left-handers, Australian semifinalist Ben Shelton a year ago defeated Ugo Humbert 6-3, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5).
Shelton said this was one of the toughest first-round matches he could ever face, with No. 33 Humbert ranked the highest among unseeded players.
He next faces Australian qualifier Dane Sweeny, who completes the 20th and final Australian Open for 39-year-old Gael Monfils.
Also advancing were No. 5 Lorenzo Musetti, No. 9 Taylor Fritz, 2023 runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas and Elliot Spizzri, who defeated 19-year-old Joao Fonseca 6-4, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2.
