MELBOURNE, Australia — Zheng Qinwen’s tennis resume is sort of completely different from what it was when she confirmed up on the Australian Open a full 12 months in the past. Regardless of all the pieces she completed in 2024 — a runner-up end at Melbourne Park; an Olympic gold medal for China — she felt jitters earlier than getting into Rod Laver Enviornment on Sunday.
After overcoming some hiccups late within the opening set of her first-round match on a stormy Day 1 on the season’s first main tennis match, Zheng got here by way of with a 7-6 (3), 6-1 victory in opposition to Anca Todoni, a 20-year-old qualifier from Romania who has received one Grand Slam match in her profession.
“Truly, I really feel actually nervous,” mentioned Zheng, who’s seeded No. 5. “I began to really feel nervous already since yesterday, ‘trigger I felt particular emotion for the Australian Open. … I actually prefer it right here.”
As properly she ought to.
It was 12 months in the past on Melbourne’s exhausting courts that Zheng made all of it the best way to the ultimate earlier than dropping to Aryna Sabalenka. The 2-time champion started her bid for a 3rd consecutive title with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over 2017 U.S. Open title winner Sloane Stephens. Alexander Zverev, the boys’s No. 2 seed, defeated Lucas Pouille 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 within the final match at Rod Laver Enviornment.
Two of the primary three males’s contests to conclude each went 5 units. Kei Nishikori, the 2014 U.S. Open runner-up, saved a pair of match factors within the third set and got here all the best way again to beat qualifier Thiago Monteiro 4-6, 6-7 (4), 7-5, 6-3, 6-3, whereas No. 6 Casper Ruud, a three-time finalist at majors, defeated Jaume Munar 6-3, 1-6, 7-5, 2-6, 6-1.
Nishikori, competing in Melbourne for the primary time in 4 years after a sequence of hip, ankle and knee accidents, raised his arms and threw his head again, inflicting his black hat to fall off, after enhancing to 29-8 in five-setters, together with 8-1 on the Australian Open.
Earlier than her run in Australia final January, Zheng had solely performed in eight main tournaments, making one quarterfinal. Her big-hitting breakthrough opened a season by which she wound up with a gold draped round her neck on the Paris Video games in August.
The 22-year-old Zheng’s power-based sport is finest suited to exhausting courts, and enjoying indoors would not harm, both, so she ultimately was fairly snug in opposition to Todoni below a closed retractable roof, whereas thunder and lightning and a severe downpour suspended motion on the courts that may’t be lined.
Nonetheless, Zheng frittered away set factors whereas serving for the opener at 5-4, then was pressured to avoid wasting set factors for Todoni later. Afterward, Zheng mentioned that being nervous normally makes her focus higher, however this time, it did not make “me play my finest tennis on the market.”
Possibly that is as a result of it was her first match of the season. Nonetheless, she was adequate on today.
The second set was extra one-sided, and Todoni took a medical timeout for remedy on her decrease again after three video games.
Zheng was amongst solely a handful of gamers capable of full matches within the early going at what’s now a 15-day match after a Sunday begin was instituted final 12 months. That additional time, which spreads out the primary spherical throughout three days, could possibly be significantly useful this week, when Monday’s packed program already included matches for Novak Djokovic, Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek.
No. 29 Linda Noskova was the primary seeded participant to exit the bracket, only a 12 months after she shocked Iga Swiatek in Melbourne. Noskova misplaced 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 to Clara Tauson, whereas seeds who received Sunday included No. 11 Paula Badosa; No. 14 Mirra Andreeva, No. 18 Donna Vekic; and No. 30 Leylah Fernandez, the 2021 U.S. Open runner-up.
“To have the ability to play a match and to complete a match with a roof, it is far more straightforward than … to cease with the rain,” mentioned the Twentieth-seeded man, Arthur Fils, who eradicated Otto Virtanen of Finland 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4, 6-4. “So, yeah, it is a good remedy.”