OhLakes de Manor faces a bumpy road as Nick Kyrgios drops into the Australian Open draw
In the first round, the world No. 8 will take on Botek van de Zandschelp.
Eighth seed Alex de Manor faces a tough start to his Australian Open tilt after drawing former world No. 22 Bottky van de Zandschelp in the first round, with a possible quarter-final matchup against top seed and defending champion Jenk Sinner. with
The draw for the Australian Open was made on Sunday before the start of the tournament. De Manor is hoping to become the first Australian since Mark Edmondson in 1976 to win the men’s singles at his home Grand Slam.
The Australian has beaten her first-round opponent in their only previous meeting, a Davis Cup clash in 2022, but Van de Zandschlap will be no pushover. The 29-year-old has previously reached the third round at Melbourne Park, was a US Open quarter-finalist in 2021 and defeated Carlos Alcaraz in the second round at Flushing Meadows last year.
De Manor is coming off a strong 2024 in which he reached the last eight in three slams before a hip injury ended his season prematurely. He has been the highest Australian men’s singles seed since 2006, and this week said he felt he was a “better version” of last year.
“The biggest thing that’s come back is my movement, which is something that suffered a little bit after the injury last year,” DeManor said. “I’m trying to get a little stronger, try to get some more free points on serve, a little bit of everything.”
As part of his comeback from a wrist injury, Nick Kyrgios meets Britain’s 23-year-old Jacob Fearnley – ranked 86th in the world and yet to win an ATP title, and including the Indian at Melbourne Park on Thursday. Practiced together. Nagel despite low-grade abdominal tension. The Australian appeared untroubled hitting his forehand and backhand, but resisted testing his serve until the end of the session, when he apparently clutched his stomach in pain.
Former Australian John Millman said the draw was “relatively kind” to Kyrgios, despite his third-round match against second seed Alexander Zverev. “If he can come through and he gets a chance to play with Alexander Xavier, it will be a bit of a service,” Millman said.
25th-seeded Alexey Poperian will face 69th-ranked Frenchman Corinton Mott, and 27th-seeded Jordan Thompson was drawn and will play a qualifier.
The women’s draw features challenging debuts for local teenage hopefuls Emerson Jones and Maya Joint. Jones, 16, will face sixth seed Elena Rybakina and Joynt, 18, will face seventh seed Jessica Pegula. Both have shown promising form in the lead-up tournaments and hopes are high that they can impress in their debuts at Melbourne Park this year.
Queenslander Jones – who was the world’s top junior last year – beat world No 37 Wang Xin in Adelaide before pushing veteran Russian Daria Kasatkina in their match on Wednesday.
Joynt – who was born in the US to an Australian father – made her Grand Slam debut at last year’s US Open, stunning veteran German Laura Siegmund in a first-round upset. She has already beaten 38th-ranked Magda Linnett and former world No.4 Sophia Cannon in Hobart this week. – Agencies
Women’s Singles First Round:
(excluding eligibility for verification)
Olivia Giedecki vs Veronika Kudarmitova
Talia Gibson (WC) vs. Zeynep Sonmez
Maya Joyce (WC) vs. Jessica Pegola (7)
Emerson Jones (WC) vs. Elena Rybakina
Daria Saville (wc) v Anna Blankova
Ajla Tomljanovic (WC) vs. Ashlyn Kruger
Men’s Singles First Round:
Alex de Manor (8) v Botik van de Zandschelp
James Duckworth vs Dominic Stricker
Omar Jasika (WC) vs. Hugo Gaston
Thanasi Kokkinakis vs Roman Cephalon
Rinke Hijikata vs. Qualifier
Lee To (WC) vs Jerry Lahika (24)
Nick Kyrgios vs Jacob Fearnley
James McCabe (WC) vs. Qualifier
Christopher O’Connell vs. Tommy Paul (12)
Alexi Popyrian (25) v Corinthian Mouat
Tristan Scolcat (WC) vs. Taro Daniels
Jordan Thompson (27) vs. Qualifier
Alexander Vocic vs. Damir Dzmehr
Adam Walton vs Quinton Hillis.