SYDNEY, January 13 (Xinhua) – Days out from the start of the Australian Open 2022, Tennis Australia on Thursday has drawn the matches for the tournament’s first round starting on January 17.
It was noteworthy that the number one Novak Djokovic of the Serbian world was in the draw. If he is allowed to play even though he is unvaccinated, he would defend the title against his colleague Miomir Kecmanovic, ranked 78th.
However, Djokovic’s appearance in the tournament is still dependent on a final decision by Immigration Minister Alex Hawke.
Other notable matchups include Women’s World No. 1 and best female seed, Ashleigh Barty who will face a qualified player in the first round. The Australian can meet last year’s women’s singles champion and current world no. 14 Naomi Osaka in the fourth round.
Aussie hothead Nick Kyrgios also received a qualifier in his first round, but he was able to face world number 2 Daniil Medvedev in the second round.
Rafael Nadal, Spanish world no. 6 will face US world no. 66, Marcos Giron in round one.
German world no. 3 Alexander Zverev was drawn against Germany’s Altmaier Daniel and Russia’s Medvedev faced Sweden’s Henri Laaksonen.
Chinese player Zhang Shuai who won the tournament’s double champion with Australian Samantha Stosur 2019 will play against Viktorija Golubic.
World no. 103 Wang Xinyu was drawn to play against American world no. 44, Li Ann while another Chinese player, world no. 112 Wang Qiang, will face US world no. 19, Coco Gauff.
The Australian Open will take place from 17 to 30 January at Melbourne Park in the Australian state of Victoria.
Earlier on Thursday, the Victorian government and Tennis Australia announced that the audience will be limited to 50 percent for this year’s event due to the spiral Omicron eruption in the state.
All ticket sales would be paused at 50 percent of the capacity for sessions that have not yet sold out by that time.
“These updates to the events of the Australian Open will mean that fans, players and the workforce can look forward to a fantastic covid-safe event in Australia’s event capital,” said Victorian Tourism Minister Jaala Pulford in a statement.
Source: sn.dk