Australian Open women’s singles draw: Aryna Sabalenka kicks off quest for special hat-trick against a former Major champion
Australian Open women’s singles draw: Aryna Sabalenka kicks off quest for special hat-trick against a former Major champion
Two-time defending champion Sabalenka could join an elite club as she looks to become the first woman to win three straight singles titles Down Under since the prodigious Martina Hingis did so in 1997, ’98 and ’99
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By: Express News Service
January 9, 2025 12:00 IST
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Aryna Sabalenka in action.
Aryna Sabalenka in action. (FILE)
Women’s singles World No 1 Aryna Sabalenka, who is seeking a hat-trick at Rod Laver Arena, takes on 2017 U.S. Open winner Sloane Stephens as the draw for the 2025 Australian Open was made at Melbourne Park on Thursday.
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Two-time defending champion Sabalenka could join an elite club as she looks to become the first woman to win three straight singles titles Down Under since the prodigious Martina Hingis did so in 1997, ’98 and ’99. Monica Seles, Steffi Graf, Aussie legend Evonne Goolagong and 24-time Major champ Margaret Court are the others to have achieved this feat in the Open Era.
“To be back here, and to walk here with this beautiful trophy as the two-time defending champion is definitely something special,” Sabalenka is quoted as saying at the draw ceremony by WTA. “I really hope that I can keep doing what I’m doing here in Australia. Putting your name into history and being next to those legends, it’s something special,”
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Women’s second seed Iga Swiatek plays Katerina Siniakova while third seed Coco Gauff faces an early challenge against fellow American Sofia Kenin, the Australian Open champion in 2020.
Paris Olympics gold medalist Zheng Qinwen, runner-up last year, meets a qualifier first up and is on a collision course with Sabalenka in the quarter-finals.
Two-times champion Naomi Osaka meets Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia in a rematch of their first-round encounter last year which the Japanese player lost in straight sets shortly after her return to the tour from a long maternity break. There are question marks over Osaka’s fitness, however, after an abdominal injury forced her to quit while leading Clara Tauson in her first WTA final in almost three years in Auckland on Sunday.
Projected quarterfinals in women’s singles (as per seeding)
[1] Aryna Sabalenka vs. [5] Zheng Qinwen
[3] Coco Gauff vs. [7] Jessica Pegula
[4] Jasmine Paolini vs. [6] Elena Rybakina
[2] Iga Swiatek vs. [8] Emma Navarro
(With Reuters inputs)
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