The first Major of 2025 gets underway on Sunday in Melbourne, with the first round of singles play split across three days.
Italy’s Jannik Sinner is the top seed in the men’s singles draw, and is the defending champion at a Major for the first time in his career. The only other man to win a singles Major last year, Carlos Alcaraz, is vying to complete a career Grand Slam by winning in Melbourne. And 10-time champion Novak Djokovic is looking to win his 25th Major title, in his first tournament with former foe Andy Murray as his coach.
In the women’s singles draw, Aryna Sabalenka is the top seed and two-time defending champion. She is joined atop the seedings by five-time Major champ Iga Swiatek, as well as 2023 US Open champ Coco Gauff, who has been the WTA’s best player of the last few months. Overall the WTA singles draw features 10 Major singles champions.
Sabalenka headlines Sunday’s play against fellow Major champion Sloane Stephens. Plus, the woman Sabalenka defeated in last year’s final, Qinwen Zheng, also plays her opening match on Day 1. And two wild cards with inspiring back stories, Lucas Pouille and Australia’s Li Tu, face stiff first round competition in Alexander Zverev and Jiri Lehecka, respectively.
Throughout the tournament, this preview will analyze the day’s four most prominent matches, while highlighting the other notable matches on the schedule. Sunday’s play gets underway at 11:00am local time.
Anca Todoni (Q) vs. Qinwen Zheng (5) – 11:30am on Rod Laver Arena
A year ago at this event, Qinwen changed her life. At the age of 21, she was a surprise finalist in Melbourne, taking advantage of an open draw where she didn’t face a top 50 player, until losing to Sabalenka in the final. She immediately became a huge star in her home country of China, and Zheng became an exponentially bigger star six months later, when she won Olympic gold in Paris.
Overall Qinwen reached six tournament finals during 2024, including at the last three events she played in the fall. She lost to Sabalenka in the final of Wuhan, won the title in Tokyo, and lost to Gauff in the championship match at the WTA Finals. Now at a career-high ranking of No.5, this is the biggest result Zheng has defended in her career to date.
Todoni is a 20-year-old Romanian qualifier playing in only her second Major, and she only owns four match wins at WTA level. In her first main draw match at the Australian Open, and in her first time playing last year’s runner-up, Anca is a huge underdog against Zheng.
Aryna Sabalenka (1) vs. Sloane Stephens – 7:00pm on Rod Laver Arena
Sabalenka has now won three of the last four hard court Majors, and at the one she didn’t win, she reached the final. Aryna went 56-14 last season, with four titles, all on hard courts. And she’s on a 5-0 start to the 2025 season, having won the title last week in Brisbane.
By contrast, Stephens is 0-2 to begin 2025. She is now on an eight-match losing streak, and has not won a match since the first round of Wimbledon over six months ago. And after going just 19-22 during 2024, Sloane is barely ranked inside the top 100.
Sabalenka is 4-0 against Stephens, even though three of those matches have gone to three sets. So while this is a matchup between Major champs, Aryna is a convincing favorite on Sunday.
Jiri Lehecka (24) vs. Li Tu (WC) – 7:00pm on Margaret Court Arena
Li Tu’s journey to this big occasion at his home Slam has been a challenging one. The Australian quit the sport at the age of 18, but after six years away, rediscovered his love for the sport after starting a coaching academy and working with young, passionate players. Last summer in New York, after several years of working his way up the minor leagues of tennis, and after failing to qualify at six Majors, he finally broke through, winning a dramatic final round of qualifying in an extremely emotional scene. Tu later described to the ATP how he found strength during that match as he looked to the skies and envisioned the face of his mother, who had passed away two years prior after a long battle with cancer.
The 28-year-old made quite a splash in the main draw, taking a set off Carlos Alcaraz on Arthur Ashe Stadium, and quickly winning over the crowd with his speedy play and engaging personality. But just like the US Open, Tu has received a tough draw in Melbourne, as Lehecka is seeded 24th despite missing over three months of play during the heart of the 2024 season due to a back injury. And the 23-year-old is already a champion this season, as he won the title in Brisbane.
Jiri possesses a much bigger game, and will be the considerable favorite in this first-time matchup, especially on a fast-playing hard court. Regardless, it will be heartwarming to see Tu make a Major homecoming.
Lucas Pouille (WC) vs. Alexander Zverev (2) – Last on Rod Laver Arena
Pouille is a former top 10 player who went through a pretty dark period a few years ago. When injury kept him off the court, Lucas became quite depressed, as he struggled to sleep and turned to alcohol. But inspired by the birth of his daughter, the Frenchman overcame his demons, and is now on the verge of returning to the top 100. He reached the third round of Wimbledon last summer as a qualifier, and achieved five Challenger-level finals last season.
2024 was the winningest season of Zverev’s career, with 69 match wins. However, he started 2025 by pulling out of the United Cup due to a biceps strain, so his readiness for this Major is in question.
As per Tennis Abstract, Pouille only owns one career victory over a top five player, which came nine years ago at the US Open over Rafael Nadal. And Zverev’s formidable serve was never better than it was during last season. So unless his biceps injury hampers him significantly, Sascha should prevail in this first-time encounter on Sunday.
Other Notable Matches on Sunday:
Marie Bouzkova vs. Mirra Andreeva (14) – 17-year-old Andreeva was a semifinalist at Roland Garros a year ago, and was the runner-up of the Australian Open girls’ singles tournament two years ago. Bouzkova was a quarterfinalist at Wimbledon three years ago. This is another first career meeting on the day.
Kei Nishikori vs. Thiago Monteiro (Q) – After years of battling injury, lNishikori achieved his first ATP final since 2019 last week in Hong Kong. Also back in 2019, he defeated Monteiro in straight sets, in their only previous meeting.
Sunday’s full Order of Play is here.
