Barty takes on Tsurenko, Djokovic to meet Struff

Men’s champion Novak Djokovic will start his quest for an eighth Australian Open title against German Jan-Lennard Struff, while the man he beat in last year’s final, Rafael Nadal (Spain), will open against Bolivian Hugo Dellien. Serena Williams arrived in Australia with her confidence high after a title win in the warm-up tournament in Auckland.

The 38-year-old American begins her bid for an eighth Melbourne Park crown with a first-round tie against Russian Anastasia Potapova. The draw, which took place in the evening in the arena named in honour of Australian great Margaret Court, threw up an intriguing clash for Serena’s sister Venus, who will face fellow American Coco Gauff. The 15-year-old Gauff exploded onto the tennis map at Wimbledon last year. As a qualifier, she beat twice Australian Open champion Venus on her main draw Grand Slam debut. Japan’s Naomi Osaka has enjoyed an even more stratospheric rise over the last couple of seasons, winning her second Grand Slam crown in Australia last year.

The 22-year-old will start her title defence against Czech Marie Bouzkova. Another former champion, Maria Sharapova, needed a wild card to get into the tournament and could present quite a challenge for 19th seed Donna Vekic. In men’s singles, one of Djokovic, Nadal or Roger Federer has clinched the title in the last three years.

With Djokovic and Nadal now in their 30s and Federer, who will open his quest for a 21st major title with a first-round match against Steve Johnson, heading towards his 40s, all eyes are on the young guns, who might break their grip. Russian fourth seed Medvedev has a tough challenge in the first round as he will be up against American Frances Tiafoe.

Austrian Dominic Thiem, seeded fifth, plays France’s Adrian Mannarino, while Greek sixth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas takes on Italian Salvatore Caruso. Nick Kyrgios looms as a tricky potential hurdle in Nadal and Thiem’s quarter of the draw but most hopes of Australian success will rest on the shoulders of Barty. She will try to end the 42-year wait since Chris O’Neill won the title at Kooyong in 1978. The Australian Open will run from January 20 to February 2.

World No.21 Alex de Minaur was forced to pull out of the Australian Open on Thursday with an abdominal injury, robbing the men’s singles draw of one of its strongest local challengers.