{"id":410323,"date":"2026-01-16T06:24:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T06:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/410323\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T06:24:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T06:24:07","slug":"home-hope-alex-de-minaur-handed-no-favours-with-tough-australian-open-draw-australian-open-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/410323\/","title":{"rendered":"Home hope Alex de Minaur handed no favours with tough Australian Open draw | Australian Open 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Local hopes of ending a half century-long drought in the Australian Open<\/a> have been tested after No 6 seed Alex de Minaur was handed a nightmare draw for the first grand slam of the year beginning on Sunday.<\/p>\n

In the first round at Melbourne Park the Australian faces former world No 6 Matteo Berrettini, who helped Italy win a third successive Davis Cup in the final in November.<\/p>\n

Another former top 10 player, 29th seed Frances Tiafoe, is a potential third-round opponent, while the 10th seed Alexander Bublik looms in round four entering the tournament in career-best form.<\/p>\n

If De Minaur can reach the quarter-finals \u2013 a stage he has never passed in grand slams \u2013 he is likely to play Carlos Alcaraz, the top seed who has beaten the Australian in all five matches the pair have played. Another Australian, 79th-ranked Adam Walton, will face Alcaraz in the first round.<\/p>\n

Todd Woodbridge, the former doubles grand slam winner, said De Minaur\u2019s draw against Berrettini, who dominated world No 27 Learner Tien at the Kooyong Classic on Tuesday, 6-2 6-2 \u2013 was a \u201ctough one\u201d, especially given Berrettini\u2019s record against De Minaur.<\/p>\n

Maya Joint is Australia\u2019s first seeded in the women\u2019s singles at the Australian Open since 2022. Photograph: Sarah Reed\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Italian has won their two most high-profile match-ups, at Wimbledon in 2023 and in the ATP Masters in Miami last year, although De Minaur levelled their career head-to-head at three-apiece with a victory in their last meeting in Vienna in October.<\/p>\n

Woodbridge said De Minaur\u2019s quarter of the draw, headlined by Alcaraz but also containing 19th-seeded American Tommy Paul, Spain\u2019s 14th seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Australians Aleksandar Vukic and Tristan Schoolkate \u2013 who will meet No 32 seed Corentin Moutet in the first round \u2013 was the one to watch.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a very interesting section without a doubt, you\u2019ve got Bublik there who can do anything,\u201d he said. \u201cTommy Paul is always dangerous and has started to play very well in majors consistently, so it\u2019s a big quarter [of the draw].\u201d<\/p>\n

In the women\u2019s draw, 30th seed Maya Joint \u2013 the first Australian seeded in the women\u2019s singles since 2022 \u2013 has a first round match against Czech player Tereza Valentova, the highly-touted 18-year-old who had already climbed to a ranking of 60.<\/p>\n

Joint\u2019s quarter of the draw features second seed Iga Swiatek and fifth seed Elena Rybakina, as well as Naomi Osaka and Australians Daria Kasatkina \u2013 in her first slam competing as a local \u2013 and Kimberley Birrell. The latter two face qualifiers in the opening round, as do countrywomen Priscilla Hon and Ajla Tomljanovic.<\/p>\n

An Australian hasn\u2019t won the men\u2019s singles at their home grand slam since Mark Edmonson in 1976, but there will be at least nine trying this year depending on the outcome of qualifying, which concludes on Thursday evening.<\/p>\n

Alexei Popyrin, the second-highest ranked Australian man, has also been given a challenging task first up. He faces France\u2019s Alexandre Muller, who sits one place below the Sydneysider at No 50 in the world.<\/p>\n

Thanasi Kokkinakis withdrew from the men\u2019s singles on Thursday saying his body was \u201cnot ready yet\u201d after he continues his recovery from surgery to his pectoral muscle. However, he may still compete in the men\u2019s doubles with Nick Kyrgios. \u201cWe will still try and step out for the doubles and have some fun,\u201d Kokkinakis posted on Instagram.<\/p>\n

Australians\u2019 first-round opponents<\/p>\n

Men\u2019s singles:<\/p>\n

Adam Walton v Carlos Alcaraz (1)<\/p>\n

Tristan Schoolkate v Corentin Moutet (32)<\/p>\n

Aleks Vukic v Thiago Agust\u00edn Tirante<\/p>\n

Alex de Minaur (6) v Matteo Berrettini<\/p>\n

Alexei Popyrin v Alexandre Muller<\/p>\n

Jordan Thompson (wildcard) v Juan Manuel Cerundolo<\/p>\n

Rinky Hijikata (wildcard) v Adrian Mannarino<\/p>\n

Chris O\u2019Connell (wildcard) v Nishesh Basavareddy<\/p>\n

James Duckworth (wildcard) v Dino Prizmic<\/p>\n

Dane Sweeny (qualifier) v Gael Monfils<\/p>\n

Jason Kubler (qualifier) v Frances Tiafoe (29)<\/p>\n

Women\u2019s singles:<\/p>\n

Emerson Jones (wildcard) v Victoria Mboko (17)<\/p>\n

Priscilla Hon (wildcard) v Marina Stakusic<\/p>\n

Talia Gibson (wildcard) v Anna Blinkova<\/p>\n

Ajla Tomljanovic v Yuliia Starodubtseva<\/p>\n

Taylah Preston (wildcard) v Shuai Zhang<\/p>\n

Maya Joint (30) v Tereza Valentova<\/p>\n

Daria Kasatkina v Nikola Bartunkova<\/p>\n

Storm Hunter (qualifier) v Jessica Bouzas Maneiro<\/p>\n

Kimberley Birrell v Maddison Inglis (qualifier)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Local hopes of ending a half century-long drought in the Australian Open have been tested after No 6…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":410324,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[99,428],"class_list":{"0":"post-410323","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410323","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=410323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}