Stephens snaps losing streak to advance in Australian Open qualifying

In her first Grand Slam qualifying draw in 14 years, former US Open champion Sloane Stephens snapped a 13-match losing streak to defeat Barbora Palicova 6-1, 7-5 at the Australian Open.

Stephens’ last match win before Monday had come in the first round of Wimbledon 2024, where she defeated Elsa Jacquemot 6-3, 6-3. She then lost her next 10 matches before taking a six-month hiatus in 2025 due to a foot injury. On returning to action last September, Stephens lost her first three matches back before finally getting back to winning ways against 21-year-old Czech Palicova, ranked No. 230.

Stephens’ current ranking is No. 1,097, but the American has entered the Australian Open qualifying draw using a special ranking of No. 115. It is the first time she has competed in a Grand Slam qualifying competition since Wimbledon 2011 as an 18-year-old, where she fell in the second round to Nina Bratchikova.

A semifinalist in Melbourne in 2013, Stephens will next face home player Olivia Gadecki in a rematch of a 2024 first-round match in the main draw. Stephens won that meeting 6-3, 6-1, but lost two further encounters with Gadecki that year. Gadecki defeated No. 22 seed Arantxa Rus 6-2, 6-4 in her opening round this year.

Elsewhere, Liechtenstein’s Kathinka Von Deichmann pulled off a remarkable comeback from 6-3, 5-0 down against 16-year-old wild card Renee Alame, the youngest player in the draw. From that point, Von Deichmann reeled off 10 straight games — saving one match point trailing 5-3 in the second set — eventually pulling through 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 as her web of finesse began to stymie the unranked Australian teenager.

The result was also a milestone for 31-year-old Von Deichmann — her first qualifying win at Melbourne Park at her sixth attempt, having made her debut here in 2018. She thus became the first Liechtensteiner to win a match at the Australian Open in history.

Von Deichmann will next face No. 8 seed Aliaksandra Sasnovich, who defeated the second-youngest player in the draw, 16-year-old French wild card Ksenia Efremova, 6-3, 6-1.

There were two further wins from match point down on Day 1. No. 10 seed Rebeka Masarova saved one as opponent Alina Charaeva served for the match at 5-4 in the decider, and pulled through 6-3, 6-7(2), 7-6[5] in 3 hours and 29 minutes, the day’s longest match. Meanwhile, Texas A&M alumna Mary Stoiana saved five to escape Nuria Brancaccio 7-5, 4-6, 7-5. The 22-year-old American made her Grand Slam qualifying debut as a wild card at the 2024 US Open, but is competing as a direct entrant for the first time this week.

Elsewhere, a clash of ex-Top 100 players saw No. 11 seed Taylor Townsend edge Nao Hibino 6-7(3), 6-0, 7-5. Spain’s former No. 88 Aliona Bolsova, who reached the fourth round of Roland Garros 2019 and has announced her imminent retirement this spring, ended her Grand Slam career with a 6-0, 6-7(3), 6-1 exit to No. 2 seed Lucia Bronzetti.

Two of the event’s Top 4 seeds were felled at the first hurdle. Another Spaniard, Guiomar Maristany Zuleta De Reales, pulled off Day 1’s biggest upset, ousting Egyptian No. 3 seed Mayar Sherif 6-4, 6-3. Meanwhile, North Macedonia’s Lina Gjorcheska raced past Austrian No. 4 seed Sinja Kraus 7-5, 6-0.

However, No. 5 seed Zeynep Sonmez made light work of a potential banana skin, needing just 1 hour and 15 minutes to dismiss 17-year-old Laura Samson 6-2, 6-2. The Czech teenager, who was the Roland Garros junior finalist in 2024 and reached the Prague semifinals on her WTA debut the same year, was making her Grand Slam qualifying debut.