Live: De Minaur to face former Aus Open semifinalist in brutal draw

Former world number three and Australian Open semifinalist Grigor Dimitrov has been given a tough round one draw against Czech Tomáš Macháč.

That match will be a challenge enough, but Dmitrov will have his eyes on his likely second round opponent — Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Or maybe it would be fair to say the Greek star and former Aus Open finalist has his eyes on Dmitrov.

Tsitsipas has Japan’s Shintaro Mochizuki in the first round.

Safe to say a juicy second round tie on the cards in this part of the draw though.

The winner of which will likely be facing one of two Italian Lorenzo’s, Musetti or Sonego.

We obviously have to talk about who Aryna Sabalenka and Carlos Alcaraz have standing in their way to Australian Open glory.

Sabalenka’s path:

• R1: Rakotomanga Rajaonah
• R2: Pavlyuchenkova/qualifier
• R3: Raducanu/Potapova/Lamens
• R4: Tauson/Mboko
• QF: Paolini/Alexandrova/Kostyuk/Jovic/Haddad Maia
• SF: Gauff/Andreeva/Svitolina/Muchova/Navarro
• Final: Swiatek/Rybakina/Anisimova/Pegula/Keys/Badosa/Osaka/Bencic

Alcaraz’s path:

• R1: Walton (Aus)
• R2: Hanfmann/Q/LL
• R3: Moutet/Korda
• R4: Paul/Fokina
• QF: Bublik/de Minaur/Tiafoe/Cobolli
• SF: Zverev/Auger-Aliassime/Medvedev/Rublev
• Final: Sinner/Djokovic/Musetti/Shelton/Fritz

He has won the Australian Open a record 10 times, but what does Novak Djokovic’s path to this year’s final look like?

It starts with a round one match against Pedro Martinez, a Spaniard who dipped in form during 2025 and fell down the rankings.

In the second round he will face one of Brandon Nakashima, Botic van de Zandschulp, Juncheng Shang or Roberto Bautista Agut.

Again, for Djokovic, presumably straightforward matches. That being said van de Zandschulp did beat him last year.

Round four, if still alive in the tournament, Djokovic will likely play Jakub Mensik, the 17th seed, or 23rd seed Tallon Griekspoor.

Quarterfinals could see Djokovic face off against any of Taylor Fritz, Stan Warwrinka, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Jiri Lehecka, Grigor Dimitrov or the inform Italian Lorenzo Musetti.

If he makes the semifinal, Djokovic is in the same side of the draw as Jannik Sinner. What a match that would be.

And well, if he makes the final, he doesn’t ever lose those. 10 from 10 now.

Just a little detour from all the draw drama, but look who is in the house 🥹🥹

Wouldn’t it be just fantastic if Roger Federer came back on the circuit…

Well, at least one of our Aussies has been handed a better draw (in the first couple of rounds).

Number 30 seed Maya Joint will play against Czechia’s Tereza Valentova in the first round.

They’ve never played before.

Joint’s second round prediction is Lulu Sun from New Zealand.

But after that match, that’s where it could get difficult.

The Aussie will likely face the fifth seed Elena Rybakina in the third round.

Rybakina is a talented player, winning Wimbledon in 2022 and most recently the 2025 WTA Finals.

Should she advance, number 10 seed Belinda Bencic will likely await for a place in the final eight.

Joint is currently playing at the Adelaide International, where she’ll be up against Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva in the quarterfinals tonight.

Defending champions Jannik Sinner and Madison Keys now know who is in their path to keeping hold of their titles.

First up for Sinner is Hugo Gaston, and for Keys it is Oleksandra Oliynykova in round one.

There’s no sugar-coating it.

Alex de Minaur has been handed an incredibly tough draw for this year’s Australian Open.

Here’s how his potential line-up looks should the top players make it through:

• First round: Matteo Berrettini
• Second round: Mariano Navone or Hamad Medjedovic 
• Third round: Francis Tiafoe [29]
• Fourth round: Alexander Bublik [10]
• Quarterfinals: Carlos Alcaraz [1]

That’s about as hard as it gets.

If Australians Alexei Popyrin, James Thompson, and James Duckworth can make their way out of the first round, the three of them have difficult opponents in the second.

For Popyrin, if he defeats Alexandre Muller, he will then likely have to face off against the third seed Alexander Zverev.

If James Thompson progresses through his match against Juan Manuel Cerundolo, he has an even tougher long-named opponent likely in his way in Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime.

But save the best until last, perhaps — if James Duckworth beats his currently unknown qualifier opponent in round one, it is likely he will have to meet defending champion Jannik Sinner in the second round.

Now for a look at who our Australian men have drawn in the first round.

Let’s start with Alex De Minaur, who’s been handed the difficult task of facing former Australian Open semifinalist Matteo Berrettini.

That is not nearly as difficult as Adam Walton‘s first match-up though. He is facing top seed and world number one Carlos Alcaraz.

Tristan Schoolkate has been handed the 32nd seed Frenchman Corentin Moutet, while Aleksandar Vukic will face Argentina’s Thiago Agustin Tirante.

Alexei Popyrin will also meet a Frenchman in round one — Alexandre Muller.

Wildcard entrant Jordan Thompson will take on Juan Manuel Cerundolo from Argentina.

Fellow wildcard Rinky Hijikata will face off against a Frenchman as well; he has Adrian Mannarino in the first round.

Christopher O’Connell, also a wildcard, has been drawn against a qualifier or a lucky loser, as has James Duckworth.

If all goes perfect (but who knows), here are the men’s singles predicted quarterfinals:

• Carlos Alcaraz [1] vs Alex de Minaur [6]
• Alex Zverev [3] vs Felix Auger-Aliassime [7]
• Lorenzo Musetti [5] vs Novak Djokovic [4]
• Ben Shelton [8] vs Jannik Sinner [2]

Oh no….

Number six seed Alex di Minaur has drawn Matteo Berrettini (number 56 in the world) in the first round.

Berrettini has been ranked as high as world number six in singles, but has been plagued by injuries in recent years.

This wasn’t the first round match-up de Minaur would have been hoping for.

He trails the Italian 3-2 in their head-to-head.

The Aussie is on the same side of the bracket as Carlos Alcaraz, who he could verse in the quarterfinal. 

De Minaur has lost to Alcaraz on all five occasions they have played.

Let’s take a look at who our Australian women have drawn in the Open.

Starting from the top of the draw, first up we have Emerson Jones who has been drawn against 17th seed Victoria Mboko of Canada.

Further down the draw, Priscilla Hon, an Australian wildcard entrant, has been drawn against a qualifier.

Talia Gibson, also a wildcard will face off against Anna Blinkova. A tough match.

Ajla Tomljanovic has been drawn against a qualifier. Important to note that Tomljanovic pulled out of the Adelaide International through injury.

Another Aussie wildcard, Taylah Preston, has to face China’s Shuai Zhang in her opening match. Preston has impressed at the Hobart International.

Our only seeded women’s player is Maya Joint. The 30th seed will take on Czech Tereza Valentova.

To finish the draw in terms of our Australian women, Daria Kasatkina has been drawn against a qualifier, as did Kimberly Birrell.

Okay here we go!

The top half of the draw is Carlos Alcaraz and Alex Zverev.

The bottom half is Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic.

Host for the draw, Jelena Dokic, has described the Madison Keys, Jess Pegula, and Amanda Anisimova (all Americans) quadrant of the draw as the toughest.

Here’s how we could be looking if the below top seeds make it through the first four rounds:

• Number one Aryna Sabalenka vs number seven Jasmine Paolini
• Number eight Mirra Andreeva vs number three Coco Gauff
• Number six Jess Pegula vs number four Amanda Anisimova
• Number five Elena Rybakina vs number two Iga Swiatek

Wildcard Venus Williams has drawn Olga Danilovic in the first round.

If she makes it into the third round, she could face Coco Gauff.

Reigning Australian Open champion Madison Keys (who is the ninth seed), will be up against Oleksandra Oliynykova in the first round.

Oliynykova’s WTA ranking is 90.

This is where they will randomly place the unseeded players into the women’s singles draw.

The number one seed, Aryna Sabalenka, is on line number one and the number two seed, Iga Swiatek, is on line 128.

American Coco Gauff, the number three seed, is in the top half of the draw, which is on Sabalenka’s side.

Swiatek is in the bottom half with number four seed, Amanda Anisimova.

Defending Australian Open men’s champion Jannik Sinner has delivered the trophy to the draw, relinquishing it for now.

Women’s defending champ Madison Keys was unable to deliver her trophy, as she is still competing in the Adelaide International.

Her trophy was carried in by one of Melbourne Park’s ball girls.

Speaking on stage, Sinner said the draw was always exciting and that he would be watching with intent.

Hosts for the draw, Jelena Dokic and Todd Woodbridge will get the draw underway shortly.

We should be away very shortly with the draw for the 2026 Australian Open.

Stick with us as we break down all the match-ups, who has the best/toughest run and look to the future.