Aryna Sabalenka performs a forehand towards U.S.’ Sloane Stephens within the girls’s singles first spherical on day 1 of the 2025 Australian Open tennis championship, in Melbourne on January 12, 2025.
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Aryna Sabalenka opened her bid for a 3rd straight Australian Open title with a 6-3 6-2 victory over Sloane Stephens on Sunday (January 12, 2025) after rain had washed away a very good chunk of play on the opening day at Melbourne Park.
The highest seed didn’t have all of it her personal means towards the 2017 U.S. Open champion however wrapped up the win in little greater than an hour on Rod Laver Area, considered one of three courts the place play continued underneath closed roofs in the course of the deluge.
Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen, who misplaced to Sabalenka in final 12 months’s remaining, reached the second spherical indoors, whereas males’s sixth seed Christian Ruud and former world quantity 4 Kei Nishikori dodged the moist climate to safe five-set victories.

Olympic champion and China’s Qinwen Zheng in motion towards Romania’s Anca Todoni within the first spherical of the Australian Open girls’s singles championship in Melbourne on January 12, 2025.
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Getty Pictures
It was one other matter on the skin courts the place play ended after lower than an hour within the morning and didn’t resume till greater than six hours later within the early night.

Eight of the 32 scheduled singles matches had been scratched and organisers will probably be giving thanks for the cushion of the additional day which was first added to the event final 12 months.
One of many advantages of profitable three Grand Slam titles is preferential scheduling and the roof of Rod Laver Area was open once more to the night solar as Sabalenka took to courtroom to face American Stephens.
5 breaks of serve, 20 winners and 21 unforced errors later and the Belarusian was main the gang in an impromptu dance, having secured a second-round conflict with Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro.
“It’s not like I performed my greatest match, most likely, however I used to be glad to shut it out in straight units,” the 26-year-old mentioned.
“I like taking part in right here, it seems like dwelling.”
In the beginning of the day, the roofs of the showcourts had been already closed earlier than a violent thunderstorm introduced the primary rain and Zheng and Romanian qualifier Anca Todoni performed out their baseline battle uninterrupted.

Fifth seed Zheng, who didn’t play a warm-up event, struggled towards the tall Todoni within the first set, lastly breaking for 4-3 solely to be damaged again.
The 22-year-old saved a set level earlier than clinching the tiebreaker 7-3 and rapidly raced to a 3-0 lead within the second whereas Todoni racked up unforced errors as she fought to remain within the contest.
“The primary match is rarely simple and I made some silly errors,” Zheng mentioned after wrapping up her 7-6(3) 6-1 win in a shade underneath two hours.

First although to second spherical
Earlier, Mirra Andreeva was the primary participant to succeed in the second spherical when the 17-year-old Russian beat Czech Marie Bouzkova 6-3 6-3 on John Cain Area.
On Margaret Courtroom Area, Arthur Fils was the primary man into second spherical when he got here from a set right down to beat unseeded Finn Otto Virtanen 3-6 7-6(4) 6-4 6-4.
“It’s fairly good, man. First time in my life I’m taking part in on a very good courtroom,” the twentieth seeded Frenchman mentioned.
“To have the ability to play a match and to complete a match with a roof, it’s rather more simple than to play, to cease with the rain.”
The opposite two early males’s matches had been for much longer with Norwegian Ruud advancing after a 6-3 1-6 7-5 2-6 6-1 victory over Jaume Munar and Japan’s Nishikori prevailing 4-6 6-7(4) 7-5 6-2 6-3 towards Brazilian qualifier Thiago Monteiro.
“He deserved to win at the moment however by some means I fought by way of,” mentioned Nishikori, who was taking part in at Melbourne Park for the primary time in 4 years after a horror run of accidents.
Males’s second seed Alexander Zverev will later tackle 2019 semi-finalist Lucas Pouille.
Revealed – January 12, 2025 09:07 am IST