Australian Open draw: Osaka, Gauff could meet in 4th round

MELBOURNE, Australia — Top-ranked Iga Swiatek will face 2020 champion Sofia Kenin in the first round and potentially 2016 winner Angelique Kerber or Danielle Collins in the second in a tough start to her bid for a maiden Open title. Australia.

Defending champion Novak Djokovic's bid for a record 11th Australian Open title will begin against a player who was in the qualifying rounds and could include a third round against Andy Murray and a quarter-final against the runner-up of the last year Stefanos Tsitsipas.

The draws to determine the singles brackets took place on Thursday, with former champions Naomi Osaka, Kerber and Caroline Wozniacki returning to Melbourne Park after maternity breaks, making for high-pressure opening rounds .

Osaka, who has won the Australian Open and US Open titles twice, will open against No. 16 Caroline Garcia and is in the same quarter of the draw as US Open winner Coco Gauff.

Kerber, a three-time major winner, will start against Collins, who beat Swiatek in the semifinals here in 2022 en route to the final. This is three-time French Open winner Swiatek's best run at the Australian Open so far. Two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka and 2017 French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko are also seeded in Swiatek's quarter.

Wozniacki, the 2018 champion, will meet 2023 semifinalist and 20th seed Magda Linette in the first round, while defending champion Aryna Sabalenka will start against a qualifier.

Third-seeded Elena Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion who lost the Australian Open final to Sabalenka last year, will have a tough opening match against former No. 1 Karolina Pliskova.

Possible women's quarterfinals could be: No. 1 Swiatek vs. No. 7 Marketa Vondrousova and Rybakina vs. No. 5 Jessica Pegula in the top half; No. 2 Sabalenka against No. 6 Ons Jabeur and No. 4 Gauff against No. 8 Maria Sakkari in the bottom half.

In addition to the possible 2023 final rematch between Djokovic and No. 7 Tsitsipas, other men's quarterfinals could be: No. 4 Jannik Sinner vs. No. 5 Andrey Rublev in the top half; No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz vs. No. 6 Alexander Zverev and No. 3 Daniil Medvedev vs. No. 8 Holger Rune in the bottom half.

Two former unseeded Wimbledon finalists returning from injuries could pose tough obstacles for the top 10 players in the first round, with Tsitsipas against Matteo Berrettini and local hope, No. 10 Alex De Minaur, against Canadian Milos Raonic.

The Australian Open will begin on Sunday.