Eight Grand Slam singles champions are scheduled to play their first-round matches on the main show courts on a star-studded Day 1 of the Australian Open.
On Friday, the event announced Monday’s schedule for the three largest courts, with eight Grand Slam champions contesting their matches on Rod Laver Arena, Margaret Court Arena, and Melbourne Arena.
Play on Rod Laver Arena kicks off with defending champion and No.3 seed Naomi Osaka battling rising Czech Marie Bouzkova at Japanese star Osaka has yet to face World No.59 Bouzkova, who had a breakthrough run to the Rogers Cup semifinals last summer, before falling to Serena Williams.
8th-seeded Williams will follow Osaka and Bouzkova on court, as the seven-time Australian Open champion starts her quest for a 24th Grand Slam title against Russian teenager Anastasia Potapova, ranked World No.90. It will be Williams’s first meeting with Potapova, who won the Wimbledon junior title at 15 years old in 2016
The Rod Laver night session will feature home favorite and World No.1 Ashleigh Barty, who kicks off her campaign against former Top 25 player Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine. Barty and Tsurenko have split their two matches, with Tsurenko winning their most recent match on Barty’s home soil, in Brisbane in 20
Margaret Court Arena will feature No.7 seed Petra Kvitova in an all-Czech affair with former doubles World No.1 Katerina Siniakova. The countrywomen have played twice, with last year’s Australian Open runner-up Kvitova winning both times.
Following that will be the heavily anticipated match between seven-time Grand Slam-winning WTA legend Venus Williams and 15-year-old phenom Coco Gauff. The two Americans faced off in the same round at Wimbledon last year, where Gauff’s remarkable run to the fourth round started after upsetting the five-time Wimbledon champion.
2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens will take on Zhang Shuai in the night session on Margaret Court Arena. Zhang has reached the Hobart final this week,but Stephens holds a slim 3-2 edge in their head-to-head.
On Melbourne Arena, 2018 Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki will kick off the final event of her career against Kristie Ahn. Late last year, former World No.1 Wozniacki announced that the Australian Open, where she won her long-awaited Grand Slam singles title two seasons ago, would be the spot of her retirement from professional tennis.
Australian heroine Samantha Stosur will wrap up the day’s play on Melbourne Arena against a qualifier yet to be determined. Stosur, a former World No.4 and 2011 US Open champion, won the Australian Open doubles title alongside Zhang Shuai last year.
News Sport Online 