Category: Tennis

Live updates from all of the action at Melbourne Park
Bencic outclasses Boulter | Sinner through | Mail Daniel

G’day and welcome to the Australian Open 2026 – day four!

There’s an absolutely indecent quantity of glorious tennis ready to enrich our working day. The pick of the night matches on our show courts features Maria Sakkari against Mirra Andreeva, a second tough assignment for the most precocious tenniser in the world, but don’t be surprised if the wily Hamed Medjedvoci gives Alex de Minaur more trouble than seems likely.

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The football and tennis writer, who has died aged 84, was a major force in changing the Guardian’s sports coverage, alongside long stints at the Daily Express and Independent

In my mind’s eye I remember it all. John Roberts, the Guardian’s northern-based football writer, had come down on a rare visit to the sports desk in London. I was a new boy on the subeditors’ desk. Everyone was pleased to see John: he was that kind of bloke.

While he was there, the chief sub wondered, could he perhaps look at a news agency story from his beat that had just come in. It could have been anything: the latest signing by Bob Paisley or Malcolm Allison or the latest misadventure of George Best. Instead of giving it the once-over or adding a sentence or two, he walked over to a quiet corner, picked up an office phone and started a long call. By the end he had the full story. There was an air of amazement in the room.

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• Reigning champion through after Hugo Gaston retires

• Retiring Monfils, 39, thanks crowd for ‘amazing ride’

The defending champion Jannik Sinner advanced to the second round of the Australian Open on Tuesday, taking just over an hour after his French opponent Hugo Gaston retired upon losing the first two sets 6-2, 6-1.

In his first official match since beating Carlos Alcaraz for the ATP Finals crown in November, the Italian world No 2 was in ominous form on Rod Laver Arena.

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• Sixth seed cruises through 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 at Melbourne Park

• Australian No 1 to face Hamad Medjedovic in second round

McDonald to serve first…

De Minaur and MacDonald have met twice before with the Australian winning on both occasions, but the most recent of those was indoors in 2022, so it’s unlikely to be playing on the minds of either combatant.

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• American becomes oldest singles player at tournament

• Williams led 0-4 in deciding set before stumbling

Venus Williams set a record just by starting her first-round match at the Australian Open, a testament to her endurance and longevity at the highest level of tennis.

Up two service breaks at 4-0 in the third set on Sunday, she was within sight of victory too. But Olga Danilovic had other ideas, rallying to win six straight games and beat the American 6-7, 6-3, 6-4. Williams served for just shy of 15 minutes in the penultimate game, determined to stay in the match before she finally succumbed to a third break point.

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Both no 1 seeds, Aryna Sabalenka and Carlos Alcaraz, won in straight sets, with Cameron Norrie, Alexander Bublik and Emma Raducanu also moving on

I’m not sure why, but I can’t get commentary on Bublik v Brooksby, which isn’t helpful, but Bublik leads 3-1; Tiafoe is up a break in set three, so at 4-2 is only two games away from seeing off Kubler; Zheng leads Korda by a break at 4-3 in the fifth; and Norrie is up a set on Bonzi, but serving to stay in the second at 4-5.

We’re away on Laver, Sabalenka in dayglo straight out of 1989 … and Rakotomanga Rajaonah immediately makes 0-30 on her serve. Oh! And when the champ swats a backhand long, she’s down three break points! All three are saved, but then the underdog raises a fourth on advantage, thrashes a deep return, and Sabalenka nets a forehand! Rakotomanga Rajaonah need only hold five times and she’s a set up! Er yeah, let’s see…

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The Tokyo Olympic champion has climbed more than 1,200 places back to the world top 10 following the birth of her daughter, Bella

“I definitely think I’m a better player now than I was before my pregnancy,” Belinda Bencic says as she reflects on climbing more than 1,200 places up the world rankings since returning to competitive tennis as a new mother. In October 2024 Bencic had plummeted to a lowly spot as world No 1,213 when she stepped back on to court feeling secure that baby Bella was being looked after by her husband, Martin Hromkovic – who is also her strength and conditioning coach.

On 11 January, 14 months since her comeback began, Bencic played Iga Swiatek in the final of the United Cup in Sydney. The world No 2, and current Wimbledon champion, won the first set but Bencic played supreme tennis as she swept Swiatek aside 6-0, 6-3 in the next two sets to seal her ninth consecutive victory of the week for Switzerland. Her imperious performance also meant that Bencic was back in the world top 10 again.

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Brazilian teenage tennis sensation says he cannot control expectations but is looking forward to challenging the best again in 2026, starting at the Australian Open

‘My dream is to become world No 1, win grand slam titles and make history for Brazil,” João Fonseca says with simple purity as we reach the crux of his huge ambition. Fonseca is 19 and he makes that succinct list of his goals sound almost as casual as a few fun things a more ordinary teenager might aim to do this weekend. But Fonseca is different.

He is a generational talent who, in recent years, has been spoken of as a future superstar amid predictions that he might have the best chance of denting the dominant hold that Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner exert over men’s tennis. But, as time in Fonseca’s company proves, he is remarkably grounded and mature for his age. Those attributes underline his credentials far more effectively than the hype that has trailed him.

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Jordan Smith, a 29-year-old tennis coach from Sydney, has won the inaugural One Point Slam at the Australian Open and its A$1m prize on Wednesday, after upstaging a field that included Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff. It is Tennis Australia, however, which won the jackpot, after the new concept – despite its near three-hour duration, often confusing format and awkward exchanges between players – attracted a full house to Rod Laver Arena during opening week as organisers look at non‑traditional ways to attract fans to Melbourne Park

• Amateur stuns pros to win One Point Slam and A$1m in boost for Australian Open

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The world No 7 on his teenage trip to west Africa, his fundraising efforts and finding his form ahead of the Australian Open

“Well, imagine you’re 13,” Félix Auger-Aliassime says, smiling. “I had been to Europe. I had been to America. I live in Canada. And then you go to Togo; it’s a little different, you know?”

Auger-Aliassime, the seventh best tennis player in the world, was describing the homecoming he enjoyed 12 years ago as he first caught a glimpse of Togo, the country his father, Sam, was born in and emigrated from to Canada before his son’s birth. It was a significant moment in his life.

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• Briton wins tight encounter with Camila Osorio 6-3, 7-6

• Match with Colombian was delayed overnight by rain

Emma Raducanu offered an impressive demonstration of her resilience at the Hobart International as she rallied from an overnight second-set deficit in her rain-delayed first-round match to defeat Camila Osorio of Colombia 6-3, 7-6 (2).

The victory marks Raducanu’s first win since September after struggling with a foot injury in the final weeks of the 2025 season. She had contested just one match this season after being sidelined for much of the off-season, losing in three sets to Maria Sakkari in the United Cup. Considering those recent challenges, this is a positive start for Raducanu, who will next face Magdalena Frech, the WTA No 57.

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Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are dominating men’s tennis. Will anyone stop them at the Australian Open?

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• Top seed was leading Osorio 6-3, 2-4 when play called off

• Venus Williams lost 6-4, 6-3 to Tatjana Maria in Tasmania

Emma Raducanu cut a frustrated figure on Tuesday at the Hobart International as her first round match was suspended for the night due to rain with the Briton struggling to hold on to her precarious 6-3, 2-4 lead against Camila Osorio of Colombia.

Raducanu, the top seed in Hobart, will return to the court on Wednesday afternoon hoping to close out her first win of the season. She lost her only match of 2026 to Maria Sakkari at the United Cup mixed-team competition last week. Afterwards, Raducanu explained how her pre-season had been badly disrupted by the foot injury she had been struggling with since she prematurely ended her 2025 season in October. The 22-year-old only began to play points and move properly in her training sessions once she arrived in Australia at the end of December.

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• Gaudff wins 6-4, 6-2 but loses in doubles

• Sabalenka into Brisbane final; Alcaraz beats Sinner in exhibition

A statement victory for Coco Gauff over her great rival Iga Swiatek proved to be insufficient to the American’s hopes of leading her team into the final of the United Cup. Poland showed their depth in an excellent team performance to close out a 2-1 win over the United States at the Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney.

Poland, who finished runners-up to the US last year, exacted their revenge courtesy of the doubles specialists Jan Zielinski and Katarzyna Kawa, who maintained their unbeaten run in the competition by defeating Christian Harrison and Gauff 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3) in the decisive third rubber. Poland face Switzerland in the final on Sunday after the Swiss defeated Belgium 2-1.

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