If it\u2019s a new year dawning Down Under, you can be sure it\u2019s time for those irresistible images of tennis players snapping selfies with all manner of indigenous marsupials.<\/p>\n
In Perth, Naomi Osaka and Emma Raducanu cavorted with the quokkas\u00a0— in terms of pure, unadulterated cuteness, perhaps the most underrated of the marsupials — on Rottnest Island.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s amazing to see a quokka for the first time,\u201d Raducanu said. \u201cI wish I could have stayed longer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Said Osaka, \u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful island. I\u2019m really happy I was able to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
On New Year\u2019s Eve, they were merely fellow tourists, enjoying the summer sun, the beach and those adorable critters. On Friday night in Perth, Osaka and Team Japan will be in action against Team Greece as the fourth United Cup opens play.<\/p>\n
Eighteen countries featuring both women and men will compete for nearly $12 million in prize money in Perth and Sydney from Jan. 2-11. The United States is the defending champion.<\/p>\n
Canada and China, who will meet in Sydney on Sunday, spent some time at the Sydney Zoo, where koala bears and kangaroos offered some captivating photo opportunities.<\/p>\n
“I\u2019m really excited,\u201d said Canada\u2019s Victoria Mboko, currently ranked at No. 18 — one spot lower than her age. \u201cThis is my first time playing such an event and playing the whole Australia swing, so there are a lot of new experiences and so many new things to come. I\u2019m excited to play United Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n
United Cup: Scores<\/a> | Standings<\/a><\/p>\n Two other WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz events also begin this week, the Brisbane International 500 on Sunday and the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand on Monday.<\/p>\n Friday\u2019s marquee matchup features Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam champion, playing her first match at the United Cup, against UC veteran Maria Sakkari. Osaka has had uncommon success Down Under, winning a pair of Australian Open titles, in 2019 and 2021.<\/p>\n After giving birth to a daughter in the summer of 2023, Osaka has seen her ranking rise consistently to the present position of No. 16. A run to the semifinals of the 2025 US Open signaled that she may again be ready to challenge for the title in Melbourne. The two haven\u2019t met in nearly five years, but Osaka leads the head-to-head series 3-2, winning their only match in Australia, five years ago in Brisbane.<\/p>\n Sakkari, meanwhile, has a spiffy 6-3 record in United Cup singles play. She finished among the year-end Top 10 players from 2021-23, but is currently at No. 52 after going 25-29 in 2025.<\/p>\n The first match of 2026 pits Jessica Bouzas Maneiro against Solana Sierra; both scored their best career Grand Slam results last year at Wimbledon, reaching the fourth round.<\/p>\n Bouzas Maneiro also advanced to her first WTA 1000 quarterfinal last year in Montreal, losing to eventual champion Victoria Mboko. The 23-year-old Spaniard is ranked No. 42 and claims a 1-0 head-to-head advantage going back to a round-of-16 match two years ago in Madrid.<\/p>\n Argentina\u2019s Sierra, 21, made headlines for that fourth-round result at Wimbledon — as a Lucky Loser.<\/p>\n Day 1 schedule, Perth, RAC Arena<\/p>\n Group A: Spain (0-0) vs. Argentina (0-0)\u00a0<\/p>\n Start Time:\u00a0(10 a.m. local, 9 p.m. ET)<\/p>\n Women\u2019s singles: Jessica Bouzas Maneiro vs. Solana Sierra<\/p>\n Men\u2019s singles: Jaume Munar vs. Sebastian Baez<\/p>\n Mixed doubles: [10] J. Bouzas Maneiro (ESP) \/ J. Munar (ESP) vs [14] Marie Lourdes Carle (ARG) \/ Guido Andreozzi (ARG)<\/p>\n Group E: Greece (0-0) vs. Japan (0-0)<\/p>\n Start Time:\u00a0(Not before 5 p.m. local, 4 a.m. ET)<\/p>\n Women\u2019s singles: Maria Sakkari vs. Naomi Osaka<\/p>\n Men\u2019s singles: Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Shintaro Mochizuki<\/p>\n Mixed doubles: [12] M. Sakkari (GRE) \/ S. Tsitsipas (GRE) vs [13]\u00a0 Osaka (JPN) \/ S. Mochizuki (JPN)<\/p>\n Coming Attractions<\/p>\n United Cup\/Sydney, Jan. 3-11<\/p>\n Play begins Saturday at Sydney\u2019s Ken Rosewall Arena, which will host the semifinals and finals on Jan. 10-11. Canada, seeded No. 2, Australia (No. 5) and 2024 United Cup champion Germany (No. 6) are the top seeds here. Poland, led by World No. 2 Iga Swiatek and Hubert Hurkacz, is also among the favorites.<\/p>\n Brisbane International, Jan. 4-11<\/p>\n Seven of the Top 10 women are scheduled to play in this loaded WTA Tour 500 event. No. 1-ranked Aryna Sabalenka heads the field and will be defending her 2025 title. Sabalenka is one of three former champions, along with Elena Rybakina (2024) and Karolina Pliskova (2017, 2018, 2020). The highly anticipated draw is Jan. 3.<\/p>\n Auckland ASB Classic, Jan. 5-11<\/p>\n Elina Svitolina and Emma Navarro are the top seeds, but they\u2019ll be challenged by up-and-comers Iva Jovic, Alexandra Eala and Janice Tjen\u00a0— who all produced career-best results in 2025. Seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams has accepted a wild card.<\/p>\n New year, new goals: WTA stars revisit 2025 and preview the 2026 season<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If it\u2019s a new year dawning Down Under, you can be sure it\u2019s time for those irresistible images…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381909,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[99,428,1959],"class_list":{"0":"post-381908","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-tennis","10":"tag-text"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}