Australian Open Draw: Venus vs. Coco, Part II

Serena Williams will begin her search for a record-breaking 24th career Grand Slam women’s singles title against Anastasia Potapova of Russia, while big sister Venus will have the must-watch match of the Australian Open first round when she faces rising American teen Coco Gauff in a rematch of their memorable Wimbledon encounter last summer.

The draw for the 2020 Australian Open was made Thursday at Melbourne Park, with play set to begin on Monday, Jan. 20.

Venus’ match with Gauff is one of two guaranteed all-American affairs, with Taylor Townsend and Jessica Pegula also drawn against each other.

Of the 11 American men who earned direct entry into the main draw, nine are unseeded. And of those nine, five will face seeds in the first round, including Steve Johnson, who drew world No. 3 and six-time Aussie Open winner Roger Federer, and Frances Tiafoe, who will play No. 4 seed and last year's US Open finalist Daniil Medvedev.

Top-ranked American man and No. 19 seed John Isner opens his campaign against Thiago Monteiro of Brazil, while No. 29 seed Taylor Fritz will play a qualifier in the first round. Tennys Sandgren, who had a breakout run to the quarterfinals in Melbourne two years ago, was the only other U.S. man to draw a qualifier in the opening round.

With seven American women seeded in their draw, the outlook is largely favorable for a number of deep runs. No. 10 seed Madison Keys plays Daria Kasatkina of Russia, and No. 18 seed Alison Riske starts against Yafan Wang of China. Sofia Kenin, the No. 14 seed, begins against a qualifier, as does Lauren Davis. 

Three other Americans will face seeded players in the first round: Bernarda Pera plays No. 29 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, Christina McHale faces 13th-seeded Petra Martic of Croatia, and Jennifer Brady plays No. 4 seed Simona Halep. A lot of attention will also be on Kristie Ahn, who faces former world No. 1 and 2018 Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki. Wozniacki announced last year that this will be the final tournament of her 15-year career.

Serena, seeded eighth, was placed in the same half of the draw as world No. 1 Ash Barty, No. 3 seed Naomi Osaka and No. 7 seed Petra Kvitova.

Should Serena advance past Potapova, she would face either world No. 64 Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia or wild card Na-Lae Han of South Korea in Round 2. 

No. 27 seed Qiang Wang of China or French wild-card recipient Pauline Parmentier could await in the third round, with No. 12 seed Johanna Konta a possible Round-of-16 opponent.

Osaka, Kenin, Venus, Gauff and Stephens are all possible quarterfinal opponents for Serena, who would not meet top-seeded Barty until the semifinals or world No. 2 Karolina Pliskova until the championship match.

Should Serena win her 24th title at the Australian Open, it would move her into a tie with Margaret Court for first place on the all-time list of Grand Slam women’s singles winners.

But while all eyes will be on Serena as she hopes to move deeper into the tournament, the immediate buzz will be around sister Venus and teen sensation Gauff (pictured above).

At just 15 years old, Gauff, ranked No. 69, is the youngest player in the Top 100. Her breakout began at Wimbledon last summer, when she shocked Venus in the first round en route to a Round-of-16 appearance.

Venus, by contrast, is the oldest player in the Top 100 at age 39. A two-time finalist in Melbourne in 2003—more than a year before Gauff was born—and 2017—before Gauff had played a professional match—Venus has all the credentials of a sure-fire Hall of Famer.

If Wimbledon was any indiction of things to come, this first-round rematch of the generations could be another one of the best matches of the year. 

The final 16 spots in each of the men’s and women’s draws will be filled by qualifiers on the conclusion of the Australian Open Qualifying Tournament, which is scheduled to finish Friday.

One American woman is guaranteed to progress to the main draw, with Shelby Rogers set to face Caroline Dolehide in the final round of qualifying. Ann Li is also through to the final round, where she will face top-seeded Ana Bogdan of Romania. Bogdan, ranked No. 96 in the world, narrowly missed out on earning a direct spot in the main draw. 

Several other American women will play their second-round qualifying matches today, including Varvara Lepchenko against No. 19 seed Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic, No. 28 seed Allie Kiick against Xinyu Wang of China, Danielle Lao against Kurumi Nara of Japan, and No. 10 seed Caty McNally against Daria Lopatetska of Ukraine. 

In the  second round of men’s qualifying, J.J. Wolf will play Marco Trungelliti of Argentina, Ernesto Escobedo will face Nikola Milojevic of Serbia, and Chris Eubanks will play Viktor Troicki of Serbia.

Players who reach the main draw will earn roughly $62,330 in their first-round match.

Men's Draw

Taylor Fritz (29) vs. Qualifier

Frances Tiafoe vs. Daniil Medvedev (4)

John Isner (19) vs. Thiago Monteiro

Tennys Sandgren vs. Qualifier

Sam Querrey vs. Borna Coric (25)

Reilly Opelka vs. Fabio Fognini (12)

Tommy Paul vs. Leonardo Mayer

Steve Johnson vs. Roger Federer (3)

Marcos Giron vs. Philipp Kohlschreiber

Michael Mmoh (WC) vs. Pablo Andjuar

Mackenzie McDonald vs. Dan Evans (30)

Women’s Draw

Bernarda Pera vs. Elena Rybakina (29)

Alison Riske (18) vs. Yafan Wang

Christina McHale vs. Petra Martic (13)

Madison Keys (10) vs. Daria Kasatkina

Venus Williams vs. Coco Gauff

Sloane Stephens (24) vs. Shuai Zhang

Sofia Kenin (14) vs. Qualifier

Madison Brengle vs. Caroline Garcia

Kristie Ahn vs. Caroline Wozniacki

Serena Williams (3) vs. Anastasia Potapova

CiCi Bellis vs. Tatjana Maria

Danielle Collins (26) vs. Vitalia Diatchenko

Jennifer Brady vs. Simona Halep (4)

Lauren Davis vs. Qualifier

Amanda Anisimova (21) vs. Zarina Diyas

Taylor Townsend vs. Jessica Pegula

Coco Vandeweghe (WC) vs. Laura Siegemund