Last year’s runners-up Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan and Latvian partner Jelena Ostapenko yesterday opened their Australian Open women’s doubles campaign with a decisive win, while top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz, Aryna Sabalenka and near-flawless Coco Gauff surged into the third round of singles.
Third seeds Hsieh and Ostapenko converted four of seven break points and hit two aces in their 7-5, 6-2 romp over Australia’s Olivia Gadecki and the US’ Desirae Krawczyk.
After her birthday this month, world No. 8 Hsieh became the only woman aged 40 in the WTA women’s doubles top 100. The former world No. 1, who has nine Grand Slam titles, won the women’s and mixed doubles titles at the 2024 Australian Open.
Photo: AFP
The Taiwanese-Latvian duo last year were knocked out in the final by the Czech Republic’s Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend of the US.
Hsieh and Ostapenko are tomorrow to face Russian-born Anastasia Potapova, now representing Austria, and Serbia’s Olga Danilovic in the second round.
Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Chinese partner Jiang Xinyu are today to play their opener against Russia’s Anna Blinkova and Uzbekistani Kamilla Rakhimova, while Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien and Japanese partner Eri Hozumi are to face top seeds Alexandra Panova and Irina Khromacheva of Russia.
Photo: AFP
In men’s singles, Spanish superstar Alcaraz came through a tough arm-wrestle 7-6 (7/4), 6-3, 6-2 on Rod Laver Arena against hard-hitting German Yannick Hanfmann to take another step toward a career Grand Slam.
“To be honest, it was tougher than I thought at the beginning,” said Alcaraz, who already has six major titles, but has never gone past the last eight in Melbourne. “I didn’t feel the ball that good. You know, the ball was coming as a bomb, forehand and backhand.”
If the 22-year-old wins the Australia Open to complete a career Grand Slam of all four majors he would be the youngest man to do so, surpassing compatriot Rafael Nadal.
Fellow Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina hit out at “ignorant drunks” in his 6-3, 7-6 (7/3), 5-7, 4-6, 6-4 victory over American Reilly Opelka.
Fourteenth seed Davidovich Fokina remonstrated with spectators in the front rows at Kia Arena when down 2-1 to in the fourth set.
He marched over to talk to a section of the crowd, angrily pointing his finger, while the chair umpire climbed down from his seat to speak to the spectators.
“It can happen here, it can happen wherever in the world,” the 26-year-old Spaniard said about the behavior. “So there were four ignorant drunks that I can do nothing about. Nothing more.”
He took exception to some fans cheering when he slipped and fell.
“I twisted my ankle and he won the point, and I think it’s not fair for me they cheered that point because maybe I could get twisted worse,” he said.
Three-time finalist Daniil Medvedev also stayed alive, but he needed four sets to keep his Grand Slam dream alive against Frenchman Quentin Halys.
In women’s singles, four-time major winner Sabalenka raced 5-0 clear of qualifier Bai Zhuoxuan, ranked a lowly 702, on center court before wobbling to give the Chinese player a glimmer of hope.
However, the top seed quickly snuffed it out to race home 6-3, 6-1 and set up a clash against Potapova, who dispatched former US Open champion Emma Raducanu.
“Super-happy to close the [first] set; it gives me confidence that my game is there, my focus is there,” said Sabalenka, who is bidding for a third Australian Open title in four years.
Raducanu said she would sit down to “re-evaluate” her game after her second-round exit.
“I don’t think I’m going to get straight back on the practice court,” she said. “I think I’m going to take a few days, get back, get back home, and try and just re-evaluate my game a bit.”
The Briton won a stunning US Open crown as a teenage qualifier in 2021, but has not clinched a tour title since and has struggled for consistency and fitness.
Third seed Gauff was clinical against Danilovic, who ended Venus Williams’ tournament in round one.
The two-time major winner took just 78 minutes to race home 6-2, 6-2 on Margaret Court Arena.
“Near perfect,” said Gauff, whose best performance in Melbourne was a semi-final in 2024.
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